Idk about tyranny but during the Civil War Abraham Lincoln started consolidating power for the federal government, and this was really the first time that we saw the government being used as a weapon against people. During the Civil War, those suspected as being confederates were jailed without proper trial.
It was actually much longer. Kievan Rus' lasted for about 400 years, then after the Mongol occupation, the monarchy lasted from the 1500s until 1917, when the Russian Monarchy collapsed. In total, it was around 800 years!
