“I realize Adams is a revered Founder, but that doesn’t make this statement true.”
Yeah, I think he was being a bit hyperbolic, to stress his point. Really what I think he is getting at is that there is no guarantee that you could ever get your freedom back, and even if you can, it may be at horrific cost.
Quite right.
Lincoln had an interesting comment on this issue.
“The constitution itself makes the distinction; and I can no more be persuaded that the government can constitutionally take no strong measure in time of rebellion, because it can be shown that the same could not be lawfully taken in time of peace, than I can be persuaded that a particular drug is not good medicine for a sick man, because it can be shown to not be good food for a well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the danger, apprehended by the meeting, that the American people will, by means of military arrests during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and Habeas corpus, throughout the indefinite peaceful future which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for emetics during temporary illness, as to persist in feeding upon them through the remainder of his healthful life.”
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/corning.htm
I should also note that we have several times in our history had rights severely restricted in time of war, not just by Lincoln.
Wilson, with arguably much less justification, probably was more repressive in this regard than Lincoln.