"I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world. That is the charity of it's silence. Let no man write my epitath; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. let them rest in obscurity and peace, my memory be left in oblivion and my tomb remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the Nations of the earth, then and not 'til then, let my epitath be written." R. Emmet 1803