I have often wondered why the Founders knew so much about improper government. Was it within their dark sides, so they understood it and developed the means to halt their own possible paths? Were they brainstorming how they would bring down their own government?
In the years after the British went home in 1783, James Madison, always a student of history, decided to study the events and issues that had destroyed previous republics in human history. He put together a journal, titled Vices of Republics, that has come down to us as James Madison's Vices, a hilarious title because he had fewer vices than anyone of that era who served in government.
In their book, Decision in Philadelphia, the Colliers go into this at some length. Madison's research was critical in the design and content of the Constitution.