But they didn't. In Britain, they saw the result of onerous regulations piled on top of each other for decades--- always with good excuses and claims of noble intentions-- and how it stifled the spirit.
As a result they fought, and then they went thru two forms of government in rapid succession ending up with the constitution which was only able to be passed after the Bill of Rights was added.
One of the arguments against tacking on the bill of rights was that by naming these rights they would be limited, and no mere 10 amendments could encompass all of mans rights. Thus, if you read the preamble to the bill of rights you'll notice a curious phrase that makes it clear that the rights are not granted by the constitution and not subject to its interpretation, but universal and pre-dating the constitution.
They chose freedom.
In the past 14 years, since 2001, but also since WWII, 1915 and the civil war to different degrees, we have seen our rights eroded, repeatedly and in small increments. Since 2001 it's been fast enough to be shocking to me, but at this point a 20 year old probably has never known a world without mass survielance.
My point is, people can talk about "money laundering"[1], terrorism and tax evasion-- these are all excuses. (There weren't even federal taxes before 1915, and for good reason. It took a constitutional amendment, which some debate was never properly ratified, to even get them.)
If the USA doesn't turn around and start embracing freedom, then more and more quickly we will slide to the despotism that caused use to leave the British in the first place.
Only in this age there are no colonies-- but there is cyberspace.
When bitcoin is illegal, only criminals will have bitcoin. When the black market grew to a certain size, the USSR fell. There's, in fact, an entire revolutionary movement[2] whose goal is to build and grow a black market to such a size that it forces the government to reveal the violence "inherent in the system" as Monty Python put it.
IF you're a frog in a pot of water, would you rather think of it as a hot tub or leap out into the fire?
[1] Literally a thought crime, that at the federal level is so broadly written that if you transfer money from your checking account to your savings account in order to pay your visa, you're guilty. IT's a catch all that wins convictions, never mind legal or moral principles.
[2] Counter-Economics, which came from the counter-cultural era, but is taking form more and more technologically these days. Google New Libertarian Manifesto by SEK3