I’ve mentioned before how the Whiskey tax and the suppression of its protesters were almost immediate examples of the failure of the Constitution to protect people from aristocratic taxation. The whiskey tax was repealed, so we can’t claim that it has had an enduring influence on people’s freedom. The legacy of that era is the demonstration of how the government can impose unfair taxation, such as the income tax legislation of 1913.

Your second paragraph isn’t really my main point, but I wouldn’t disagree with it. It’s a primitive world out there, and the threat of violence looms behind many interactions. The second amendment’s term “militia” refers to citizen force rather than government force, and “well regulated” means well provisioned with violent weapons.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

In other words, a citizenry that can threaten violence is necessary for freedom.