I think you're reaching a bit, don't you?
David provided a quote from the "day of our founding," which I think shows the ideals the founders had in mind. The principles of the founders were quite radical at the time, when most people still thought the citizen was the property of the State or monarch (a lot of people still feel this way.)
You can nitpick about the precise wording if it makes you feel better. Lord knows some people make a hobby out of parsing Bush's speeches down to the subatomic level.