[tame]

I don't get the "tried and true" sense from the original. The principles of the Founding Fathers were certainly not tried and true, they were Revolutionary.

I respectfully disagree. The Constitution had not yet been framed, and when it was framed the principles were tried and true principles practiced in part by past civilizations (not the least of which was the nation of Israel in the Hebrew scriptures).

What was revolutionary was the combination of all these principles in one government in the later Constitution.

[eBelasco]

In my reading, on such principles...as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness does not mean the same thing as "tried and true". Tried and true would seem to preclude taking a risk on new principles.