They stood on the shoulders of giants and read people we have ignored.    They were not smarter but it was a day, as you say, when greatness of that type was promoted over the marketing angle.   They were morally and spiritually our betters -- and i mean spiritually not just in the religious sense.  

They operated on the principle of delayed gratification -- they sacrificed so that their children's children would benefit.   Their efforts brought them little reward.  They held to values that promoted that sort of behavior.  We ignore or mock those values.   Adams was sure his efforts would be all but forgotten.  He spent years away from Abigail  and home to the detriment of his own children.   His marriage is a story of one of the great love affairs of history and the sacrifice both of them made for this country is incalculable.