Question

congress: the basics
the framers set out the basic structure of the national government—in other words, its three branches—in articles i, ii, and iii. article i establishes the national governments legislative branch, congress. its the longest part of the constitution. and thats because the founding generation thought that congress would be the most powerful, and most dangerous, branch of government.
within the national government, congress is responsible for making the laws. the constitution separates congress into two houses. (we call this ) a house of representatives and a senate.
today, there are 435 members of the u.s. house of representatives. representatives must be at least 25 years old. they serve for two - year terms. and they can run for re - election. and today, there are 100 u.s. senators. two for each state. senators must be at least 30 years old. they serve for a six - year term, with one - third of the senate elected every two years. and each senator can run for reelection. finally, senators are now elected directly by the american people, not the state legislatures, as originally written into the constitution. (this is because of the 17th amendment, ratified in 1913.)
article i also sets out the powers of congress and lists certain limits to those powers.
big idea: with congress, the founding generation set up a national legislature to make the nations laws. they looked to create a new national legislature with more authority, and ability to act, than the one that came before it, but also one of limited powers.
what are the two ideas that needed to be balanced in the legislative branch?

Explanation:

The text mentions that the founding generation wanted a new national legislature with more authority and ability to act than the previous one, but also with limited powers. So the two ideas are more authority/ability to act and limited powers.

Answer:

More authority and ability to act; Limited powers