How did the founders create federalism?

Federalism was established when all of the former "colonies" met in Philadelphia to work on a new government. The idea was to create a constitution that created a "federalist" central government with a good deal of power, but not to the extent that it would make the states non-players in the course of governmental affairs in the US. They created a so-called "presidential" republic, here the powers of government were divided into three parts. They were the judicial, legislative and executive branches.