The Bill of Rights was literally inspired by various English Bills of Rights. To view the early U.S. as some sort of magical utopian exceptional polity that gre

The Bill of Rights was literally inspired by various English Bills of Rights. To view the early U.S. as some sort of magical utopian exceptional polity that grew out of the head of Zeus is using incredibly rose-colored glasses; George Washington literally put down a tax rebellion with force, John Adams did as well, and Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts. Just ask Daniel Shays how much the Bill of Rights helped him. From the beginning the United States was as flawed and as human as every single other government in the history of the world, and to pretend there is some sort of magical exceptionalism to it is both hopelessly utopian and impractical for useful discourse.