The Roman Kingdom

I was intrigued to read about the development of Rome and the evolution that the constitutional system underwent during the change of eras. A continuous theme I saw between the Republic and the Kingdom was the large amount of power given to their officials. The consuls of the republic had power similar to that of the Kings during the Roman Kingdom era.It seems that although they bestowed great power to these people, they perhaps had foresight into the need to have a system of checks and balances. By limiting the powers of the consuls and at the same time granting them imperium. I wondered if this was to keep one person or group from becoming all powerful. If so, then they were using a double edge sword because they were also trying to keep other "lower" classes like the Plebeians from gaining even a small amount of power over their own lives let alone any power over others.