Sentence:  They <nowiki>[</nowiki>viz., the Framers of the American Constitution] held England to be the freest and best-governed country in the world, but were resolved to avoid the weak points which had enabled King George III. to play the <WSD>tyrant</WSD>, and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.