Since we're going back it time it may be also worth remembering that it was largely the government that ensured those white people could successfully take the land in the first place. Without the government the indians would've had a lot better chance against the newcomers.
Still, the economic engine back then was in the east and under pretty heavy government control from the get go (whiskey rebellion anybody).

This notion that USA is currently under some big oppressive government that would be anathema to the founders, this notion seems rather fictional to me. USA is a very, very young country and thus there are really good records of how things actually used to be. That is for anybody who is interested in the real history and would bother to read congress bills and newspapers from the old times, rather than simply swallow somebody else's propaganda.