It was a widespread belief in gospel, or at least in general bible truth, that made it possible to keep the American vision of small government limited. God was looked to as the steward of things that now we have almost every Federal department possible under the sun to oversee (and usually wastefully, which might be better for liberty, if worse on our wallets, than doing it efficiently).
As the fervor of faith faded, so did the trust that a limited government would be enough. The finger of blame here is pointing square at us. God didn’t doom us to be this way. We doomed ourselves by refusing literal “blessings of liberty.”
Well said!!