John Bigelow stated after writing about his great friend Samuel J. Tilden:
"I am disposed to regard as my duty to a faithful friend, as well as to the great community of which he had been for full half a century a devoted servant and benefactor. "His public life spanned a larger portion of the history of our Republic than that of any other eminent American statesman, and he occupied the unique position in our history of being the only one selected by the nation for its chief magistracy, who was never clothed with its responsibilities. That there was much in such a life which those to whom the future destinies of our country are to be confided, may study with profit, there can be no doubt.
"The contribution to the facilities for this study, attempted in these pages, inadequate as I am conscious it is, and imperfect as any record of such a life must be, written before Time's effacing finger has obliterated the transient memories of a more or less stormy career, and revealed its durable outline and grand proportions, will, I trust, be not without some value. When the passions and prejudices engendered by political strife shall, as in due time they will subside,
"Mr. Tilden's place among the foremost and wisest statesmen of our country will be cheerfully recognized. If, however, I owe to his memory, as I suppose I do, any further duty as a friend and patriot, it is a duty which my increasing years admonish me must not be deferred."
