You're right that the geography of the US confers such an advantage that it seems as though it could have had literally any form of government since its foundin

You're right that the geography of the US confers such an advantage that it seems as though it could have had literally any form of government since its founding and still come out ahead in the end, but I'm not sure if that's actually true. There are plenty of historical examples of resource-rich (in all senses of the word "resource") nations that have failed to prosper and resource-poor nations that thrived despite their challenges. A key difference between those nations is culture and governance.