We should not forget that our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past — Jefferson and Paine, Emerson and Thoreau — while we silence the rebels of the present.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist

Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 2, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
    (Source)

Reprinted in Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954).