Which branch did the Framers of the Constitution feel was the most important? How we can tell?

The Framers of the Constitution felt that the legislative branch was the most important.  We can see this because it is given the most powers, because the article that deals with it is the longest of the articles, and because the article that deals with it is the first article.  All of this implies that the Framers thought that the legislative branch would be the most important branch.

Before the Constitution was written, the US was governed under the Articles of Confederation.  This constitution did not provide for an executive branch. The only law-making body for the national government was Congress.  When the Framers wrote the new constitution, they wanted to include an executive branch.  However, they were still wary of excessive executive power and they wanted Congress to be the most important branch of government.

We can see this in three ways. The first way we can see this is by looking at the order in which the Framers addressed the three branches of government.  The Framers dealt with Congress in Article I.  From this, we can infer that the legislative branch was the most important branch in their eyes. It makes sense that you would put the most important thing first when writing out a set of rules.

There are two more related facts that imply that the Framers thought Congress was more important than the other branches. The Framers gave Congress many more powers than the other branches.  All of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is dedicated to specifying the powers that Congress has.  This is a very long section.  Because Congress is given so many powers (and because Article I also specifies what Congress cannot do), Article I is much longer than the other articles. This, too, implies that Congress is more important than the other branches.

From these three pieces of evidence, we can infer that the Framers felt that the legislative branch was the most important branch of government.