how does the constitution reflect the principle of limited government 
in the united states the constitution divides the government into three separate branches with separate powers and constraints all three must work together to enact new policies and laws at the time the constitution was written it was considered unlikely that any one person or faction could control all three branches therefore this separation was considered a way of preventing government overreach who came up with the idea of limited government while the concept of limited government dates back to the magna carta the idea was further developed by enlightenment thinkers in the 17th and 18th centuries the idea that government power requires the consent of the governed originates from john locke 12the concept of separating the government into three branches is attributed to baron de montesquieu and the idea that the government should avoid intervening in commerce is frequently attributed to adam smith many of these ideas were later integrated into the american and french revolutions 13