Madison, Hamilton, et al. would wonder at our credulous view of human nature.
The doctrine of original sin—and its implication that humans tend toward rank self-interest and degeneracy—animated every part of the constitutional structure the Founders erected. … Even the skeptics and deists among them, of whom there were few, happily adopted Christianity’s moral outlook.
But Hamilton, Jay and Madison aimed chiefly to convince the public that the proposed Constitution, by balancing powers against each other, mitigated man’s propensity for mischief, violence and corruption.