Samuel H. Preston: "He who will live forever in the history of this republic as the author-hero of the Revolution; he who consecrated a long, laborious life in both hemispheres to the sacred cause of humanity; he who, in his sublime patriotism, adopted the world for his country, and who, in his boundless philanthropy, embraced all mankind for his brethren; this man—this great, and grand, and good, and heroic man—has been robbed of honor and reputation, and blackened and hunted by the sleuth-hounds of superstition, as though he had been the embodied curse of earth.
"But, so sure as the affairs of men have an eternal destiny, shall justice be awarded Thomas Paine. The flowers of poesy will be woven in amaranthine wreaths above his last resting-place, and his once-blackened name will whiten with purity through all the wasteless years."
Rev. Frank S. C. Wicks: "Why this ingratitude? In one word, bigotry! Religious bigotry, that serpent that has left its trail of slime all over the pages of human history.
"He was pursued by religious bigotry, and but for religious bigotry the name of Thomas Paine would share with Washington the love and honor of his countrymen."
Rev. Thomas B. Gregory: "Our gratitude has been abundantly shown to Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and others who figured in the great drama, but to our shame it must be said we have been slow in acknowledging our debt to the man who did more than any other to bring about this country's freedom.
"But superstition is slowly dying, ignorance is gradually disappearing, and by and by Thomas Paine will come into his own and take his place along with the greatest in our national pantheon."
Rev. Solomon Southwick, D.D.: "Had Thomas Paine been a Grecian or Roman patriot in olden times, and performed the same services as he did for this country, he would have had the honor of an Apotheosis. The Pantheon would have been opened to him, and we should at this day regard his memory with the same veneration that we do that of Socrates and Cicero. But posterity will do him justice. Time, that destroys envy and establishes truth, will clothe his character in the habiliments that justly belong to it."
"Paine was one of the glories of his age.... He has a powerful vindicator—posterity."—M. M. Mangasarian.
Frances Wright D'Arusmont: "Rest in peace, noble patriot; a glorious resurrection awaits thee."
"For nearly a century this noble man—the real founder of our republic—has been buried beneath the cruel stones of obloquy. But slowly the angels of Justice are rolling back these stones from his sepulchre, and the resurrection of Thomas Paine is at hand."—Six Historic Americans.