Final answer:
The founders intended to divide government into three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—to implement checks and balances, prevent tyranny, and ensure the protection of the people's rights and liberties.
Step-by-step explanation:
The founders wanted to separate the powers of the government into three different branches to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful and to safeguard against tyranny. Their primary objective was to create a balance of power that would ensure the rights and liberties of the people were protected. To this end, they established the legislative branch for making laws, the executive branch for enforcing laws, and the judicial branch for interpreting laws, each with the ability to offer checks and balances on the others.
This design was rooted in a deep understanding by the founders that each form of government could become corrupt, and to prevent this, they created a mixed form of government that divided and distributed responsibilities. Their complex system guarantees that no single entity can wield unchecked authority, necessitating cooperation and compromise between branches.