Final answer:
The most important value to America's success as a constitutional republic is individual rights, as it emphasizes the role of citizens in selecting their representatives and limits the scope of power, contrasting with monarchy or oligarchy.
Step-by-step explanation:
The value that was most important to America's success as a constitutional republic is individual rights. The excerpt illustrates that after the American Revolution, the country turned to a form of government based on republicanism, where the people would choose their own representatives rather than being under a monarchy. Revolutionary leaders favored a republic, which would limit political rights to property holders, reflecting a bias toward the elite, but the underlying principle still revolved around the idea of protecting individual rights within a governmental structure that encouraged participation and the right to vote for certain sectors of the society.
Republicanism signified a significant shift from the British monarchy, aiming to guarantee liberty through a constitutional framework—specifically, one that would stand the test of time. Indeed, the United States Constitution is celebrated for creating a government of ordered liberty, striking a delicate balance between individual rights and the collective good. This focus on individual rights over other forms of governance such as monarchies or oligarchies shaped the foundation of the American political system.