Look at the state constitutions enacted during the 1776-1787 period, how they were created, and what the public discussion of them was. They show a definite distrust of government. (States may have had regulatory powers, but that did not give them license to be tyrannical by e.g. locking people up without trial or conducting unreasonable searches.) Many of the new ideas that were formed during this period about how to structure state government to hedge against tyranny were also used when drafting the federal constitution.
kijin's point stands: back then people did not trust the government (and a key related point: they knew that even a republican (i.e. democratic) government could be untrustworthy). Much of that healthy distrust is gone today.
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Look at the state constitutions enacted during the 1776-1787 period, how they were created, and what the public discussion of them was. They show a definite distrust of government. (States may have had regulatory powers, but that did not give them license to be tyrannical by e.g. locking people up without trial or conducting unreasonable searches.) Many of the new ideas that were formed during this period about how to structure state government to hedge against tyranny were also used when drafting the federal constitution.
kijin's point stands: back then people did not trust the government (and a key related point: they knew that even a republican (i.e. democratic) government could be untrustworthy). Much of that healthy distrust is gone today.