What is Patriotism in the United States?

By A. T. JONES.

The Religious Liberty Library
No. 55, October 1898

Published by the
International Religious Liberty Assoc’n.
Battle Creek, Mich.

[An address delivered to a large and enthusiastic audience in the Metropolitan Temple, San Francisco, June 14, 1896.]

Fellow Citizens, Lovers of Right and Truth: As announced, I am to speak to you this afternoon on the question, What Is Patriotism in the United States? WIP 1.1

The first point in this inquiry is, What is patriotism in any country? What is patriotism in itself? Patriotism is usually defined, in brief, as love of country; but love of country is more than the love of the mountains and hills, the plains, valleys, rivers, and rills, of which the country is composed. More fully defined, patriotism is the spirit which prompts obedience to the laws of one’s country, and to the support and defense of its existence, rights, and institutions. Thus, love of country is really love of the institutions and the principles which make a country what it is in all respects. WIP 1.2

If love of country were simply love of the mountains and hills, valleys and plains, rivers and rills,-the landscape,-of which the country is composed, there could never be any such thing as civil war; for plainly there could never be any dispute over that, among people inhabiting the same territory. It is evident, therefore, that patriotism in truth lies in love of the principles and institutions which make a country what it is in all respects; it is loyalty to those specific principles and institutions. Hence, the patriot is correctly defined as “any defender of liberty, civil or religious.” WIP 1.3

What, then, is patriotism in the United States? In order that this question shall be rightly answered, it is essential that we study the fundamental principles which characterize this nation, which are the basis of its government, and which have made it all that it has ever been among the nations of the earth. Having learned this, and knowing that patriotism is the spirit which prompts obedience to the laws of one’s country, and the support and defense of its principles and institutions, it will be easy for all to discern what is, and what is not, patriotism here. Firm allegiance, strict adherence, to these fundamental principles is in the nature of the case patriotism. Any forgetting, any ignoring, or any disregarding of these principles, however much those who do so may proclaim their patriotism, is in truth, the very opposite. WIP 2.1