Let's let the founders to the talking.

John Adams:
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), XIII:292-294.

John Quincy Adams:
John Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport at Their Request on the Sixty-First Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1837 (Newburyport: Charles Whipple, 1837), 5-6.

Sam Adams Quote:
Samuel Adams, Article Signed “Vindex” in the Boston Gazette, December 19, 1768, The Writings of Samuel Adams, ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904), I:269.