Primarily I think the mentality of the revolutionaries in each situation is the biggest deciding factor of what happens afterward.
The US's forefathers had very clear goals with very clear intentions. Many of them were not just intelligent, but practical. As well as being rather lucky.
The forefathers of the US and much of it's post-revolution population were wary of concentrated powers and resultant corruption.
Independence for the 13 colonies meant regional AND personal independence. Back during the American Revolution people were very concerned about their own personal independence and rights. The formation of our current Union of states with a Federal government took a long time to happen, with a lot of debate. It took close to a year for enough states to ratify the Constitution, and that was only with the Bill of Rights attached.
Our first government was a confederacy, not a union, and that quickly began to fall apart because of tension/rivalries/etc between states. The creation of a Federal government to regulate the states in a union was actually a cause for a lot of concern. Many citizens felt threatened by the idea of a Federal branch of government. Fearing overreach on the scale of another Monarchy or Dictatorship.
Self reliance and personal Independence was an absolutely integral part of the formation of the US.
That being said, comments like Pieter's are a slightly ill informed. Protection of the property owner was not necessarily direct protection for slave owners. While the concerns of slave owners did play a role in the negotiations for our Constitution, there were many people opposed to favoring slave owners, for a number of reasons. For instance, the 3/5 compromise. People often try to argue that the 3/5s compromise shows innate racism within the core conceits or our nation. When in actuality it was to prevent the slave states from wielding disproportionate power over the other states.
Protection of a person's assets was tied very closely to personal independence and freedom. Our founding principles were meant to protect people from the greed of others, not to help ingrain a wealthy nobility/aristocracy.
They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.
Meaning that people shouldn't just be able to tax away another person's wealth. The money, property and possessions you work for and earn are yours.
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin
"if we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." - Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, November 29, 1802