It is rubbish to say that the founding fathers rated life above liberty. If the founding fathers thought the preservation of life was more important than liberty, the US would have never laid down its men's lives in wars, for the sake of preserving its citizens' liberty. Also the founding fathers' philosophy came from Christianity, where humanity's savior, Jesus Christ, laid down his life, so that all may be free.

Freedom is a greater virtue than life, because when we pursue freedom, we get the greatest quality of life. Only people who are ignorant and are tyrants, push the idea that life is more important than liberty: because doing so, sooner or later, leads to tyranny.