It was formed as a counter-balance to another powerful alliance of powers in Europe. The Triple Entente was formed as an answer to the Triple Alliance, which was a military alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, in which they promised each other military support in case of an attack by another powerful country.
Direct democracy, all citizens voted on everything.
The answer to your question is C.
The main idea in Madison's federalist paper #51 is that checks and balances can and should be put in place in a federal government in order to keep any single branch from becoming too powerful.
