Thanks for the clarification. My choice of "founding fathers" was an ambiguous term, as technically I meant something a bit different than what I actually said.
Firstly, many of the people involved in the initial bid for independence (e.g Sam Adams and Thomas Paine, most notably) I'd consider "radicals"
not "conservatives"; it was an unlikely alliance between radicals like Sam and conservatives like the well-to-do merchants who wanted to keep the tax dollars here rather than repatriate them out of the country, that fought side by side during the American Revolution. Jefferson in my taxonomy is clearly a "liberal" and not a "conservative", as well, and
The Declaration of Independence, along with Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech, are probably two of the most significant and eloquent expressions of "liberal" philosophy you can find anywhere, any time.
As I'm sure you recall, the first attempt at a central government, the Articles of Confederation, was not working as well as some people would have liked. That first "central" government did not have the necessary authority (in their view) adequately to referee conflicts between the states nor collectively to represent the states in foreign affairs. Many feared that the nascent nation would founder, rent asunder by internal conflicts, too weak to defend itself against an external foe.
Many historians call the enactment of the US Constitution the "conservative counter-revolution."
By "founding fathers" I was thinking more of luminaries like Hamilton, Madison, Jay (see
The Federalist Papers), Washington, Franklin, "conservatives" all, the people whose writing and proselytizing convinced people to adopt the US Constitution, which is very much a "conservative" document. As I believe Rover pointed out, Washington "freed" his slaves in his will only
after his wife's death.
And so, yes, our "first wave" of "founding fathers" was a nice mix of radicals, liberals, and conservatives, and even a few "monarchists" (who wanted to make Washington our first king!); which subsequently was upstaged by the persuasiveness of the solid "conservative" bloc that followed ten years later.
PS it does seem to be a truism that today's successful radicals become tomorrow's hide-bound conservatives! I think that drives some people crazy; because "the wisdom of your elders" keeps evolving.