Apparently they didn't "believe in the principles" enough to make them applicable to state and local governments as well as the Federal government. It would be strange indeed if they were truly committed to the idea that free speech was a fundamental right that no government could take away at any level yet they left the state of Pennsylvania or the city government of Boston free to pass laws restricting free speech. You don't want to hear this because it conflicts with the history you've been taught and the political rhetoric you've absorbed throughout your life, but it's true.

"John Adams wrote the oldest still operative written constitution on earth and the rights it granted were still held to protect the rights of gay people to marry only a decade and a half ago." What does this have to do with anything whatsoever?