So what Happened??

The idea of limited government is what America was founded on.
The founders set up a system whereby the government was the servant of the people.
The intent was that laws would be limited to those that outlawed that which caused injury to another.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/602

”A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” - Thomas Jefferson