
in the most elementary sense of the term (the word derives from the Latin patria or “fatherland”), suggests the loyalty that all citizens owe to their country or nation. With varying degrees of intensity, nearly all Americans claim to be patriotic citizens of the republic. But the term also has a narrower, more specific history, with sharper political implications. In the two centuries since the Revolutionary War, patriotism has tended to shift from a left‐wing to a right‐wing cause.
The term first achieved prominence in Anglo‐American politics during the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The British ministry of Sir Robert Walpole, which admitted only Whigs to office and castigated all Tories as disloyal to the Hanoverian dynasty, alienated a number of prominent Whigs, who took the name “Patriots” to distinguish themselves from the Tory opposition. But some prominent Tories, such as Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, saw an opportunity to create a combined Tory and Whig opposition strong enough to topple Walpole, and also appropriated the label “Patriot” for that goal. By 1750, even Frederick, Prince of Wales, claimed to be a patriot prince, an ambition he bequeathed to his son, who inherited the throne as George III in 1760. To everyone invoking a patriot identity, the label implied placing loyalty to one's country ahead of personal interest or factional causes.
North American spokesmen jubilantly hailed the accession of George III as a “Patriot King,” only to find that his ministers threatened their liberties through direct parliamentary taxation of the colonies. As the resistance movement gained coherence and grew more militant, its members called themselves “Sons of Liberty,” “Whigs,” and “Patriots.” Their enemies were “Tories,” who preferred the softer name of “Loyalists.” The launching of American independence identified American patriots as republicans and enemies of monarchy, a radical position in the eighteenth century that would become associated with “left” politics during the French Revolution a few years later. That association persisted into the early national period. Democratic‐Republicans called their opponents “Tories” and “monocrats” (champions of monarchy), not “Federalists.” By 1800, the Federalists seemed to oblige them by increasingly refusing to celebrate the Fourth of July (they preferred Washington's Birthday as their national festival) and above all by refusing to read the Declaration of Independence in public lest it offend Great Britain. Well into the nineteenth century, the term patriot retained these radical associations.
The veterans' movements that followed the Civil War probably marked a shift toward a more conservative definition of patriot. In the former Confederate states, secret paramilitary societies such as the Ku Klux Klan drew heavily on Confederate veterans and their younger kin to undermine Radical Reconstruction through terrorist acts. They saw themselves as patriots committed to “redeeming” the South for white supremacy from “black Republican” rule. The Union counterpart was much less militant, but over time the veterans' group known as the Grand Army of the Republic grew less eager to celebrate emancipation and more inclined to glory in the triumph of the Union, while agitating for bonuses and other veterans' benefits.
That trend has continued in the twentieth century. Veterans' organizations, such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, have at times almost claimed a monopoly on American patriotism and have often questioned the loyalty of citizens who disagreed with their objectives. The word patriot was becoming strongly associated with the Right in politics, partly because the Left often advocated such internationalist causes as the republican side in the Spanish Civil War and decolonization movements after World War II, both of which also had strong Communist support.
The Vietnam War sealed these identities. The Left opposed the war and tried to end it; the Right denounced such efforts as disloyal and appropriated all the symbols of American patriotism. By the 1972 presidential election, President Richard M. Nixon, who had served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, but without seeing combat, successfully invoked his own patriotism while overwhelming his Democrat opponent, George McGovern, who had survived twenty‐five missions as a bomber pilot in the European theater of World War II but never used his Army Air Force record to win votes in the campaign.
The label “Patriot,” at least in its partisan sense, is recently shifting even further to the right. It has been actively appropriated by paramilitary militia movements around the country, which now seem to equate “Patriot” with white supremacy and a fierce hatred for most actions of the federal government. The ability to capture the label remains an important touchstone in American public life.
[See also Commemoration and Public Ritual; Culture, War, and the Military; Militarism and Antimilitarism; Nationalism; Public Opinion, War, and the Military; Religion and War.]
Bibliography
Patriotism has always been defined as love of one's country or zeal in the defence of the interests of one's country. Patriotism as such does not necessitate a programme of action; it stimulates and informs nationalism, but is not always nationalistic. In the eighteenth century reference to it was often ironic, as when Dr Johnson defined a patriot as ‘a factious disturber of the government’. He also said that ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel’, referring particularly to the demagogue John Wilkes. Such ironic reservations about the virtue of patriotism are a frequent theme of much modern commentary, often prompting the bitter reflection by self-ascribed patriots that, ‘Patriotism has become a dirty word’.
— Lincoln Allison
n.
Combustible rubbish read to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.
In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.
Quotes:
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."
- Edward Abbey
"What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country."
- Joseph Addison
"It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country."
- Alfred Adler
"Love of country is like love of woman -- he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good."
- Felix Adler
"Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, lions and tigers alike -- I would swap the whole damn zoo for the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam."
- Spiro T. Agnew
"True patriots we; for be it understood we left our country for our country's good."
- George Barrington
See more famous quotes about Patriotism

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The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (January 2012) |
| Look up patriotism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy. In a generalized sense applicable to all countries and peoples, patriotism is a devotion to one's country.
It is a related sentiment to nationalism.[1][2][3]
The English term patriot is first attested in the Elizabethan era, via Middle French from Late Latin (6th century) patriota "countryman", ultimately from Greek πατριώτης (patriōtēs) "countryman", from πατρίς, "fatherland".[4] The abstract noun patriotism appears in the early 18th century.[5]
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The general notion of Civic virtue and group dedication has been attested in culture globally throughout the historical period.
In classical 18th century patriotism, loyalty to the State was chiefly considered in contrast to loyalty to the Church, and it was argued that clerics should not be allowed to teach in public schools as their patrie was heaven, so that they could not inspire love of the homeland in their students. One of the most influential proponents of this classical notion of patriotism was Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[1]
Conversely, in 1774, Samuel Johnson published The Patriot, a critique of what he viewed as false patriotism. On the evening of 7 April 1775, he made the famous statement, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."[6] This line was not, as widely believed, about patriotism in general, but the false use of the term "patriotism" by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (the patriot-minister) and his supporters; Johnson opposed "self-professed Patriots" in general, but valued what he considered "true" patriotism.[7]
Patriotism may be strengthened by adherence to a national religion (a civil religion or even a theocracy). This is the opposite of the separation of church and state demanded by the Enlightenment thinkers who saw patriotism and faith as similar forces. Others, such as Michael Billig or Jean Bethke Elshtain argue that the difference is difficult to discern and relies largely on the attitude of the labeller.[8]
| Country | 1995-97 |
|---|---|
| USA | 3.72 |
| Venezuela | 3.73 |
| South Africa | 3.72 |
| India | 3.70 |
| Peru | 3.68 |
| Slovenia | 3.64 |
| Poland | 3.55 |
| Australia | 3.54 |
| Spain | 3.38 |
| Argentina | 3.29 |
| Sweden | 3.13 |
| Moldova | 2.98 |
| Japan | 2.85 |
| Russia | 2.69 |
| Switzerland | 2.59 |
| Lithuania | 2.47 |
| Latvia | 2.10 |
| Germany | 1.37 |
| Average | 3.12 |
Several surveys have tried to measure patriotism for various reasons, such as the Correlates of War project which found some correlation between war propensity and patriotism. The results from different studies are time dependent. For example, patriotism in Germany before the Great War (WWI) ranked at or near the top, whereas today it ranks at or near the bottom of patriotism surveys.
The Patriotism Score tables here are from the World Values Survey and refer to the average answer for high income residents of a country to the question: "Are you proud to be [insert nationality]?" It ranges from 1 (not proud) to 4 (very proud).[9]. The higher value for Germany in 1990-92 likely reflects a temporary effect from reunification occurring then.
| Country | Score 1990-92 |
|---|---|
| Ireland | 3.74 |
| USA | 3.73 |
| India | 3.67 |
| South Africa | 3.55 |
| Canada | 3.53 |
| Spain | 3.46 |
| United Kingdom | 3.38 |
| Denmark | 3.27 |
| Italy | 3.25 |
| Sweden | 3.22 |
| France | 3.18 |
| Finland | 3.17 |
| Belgium | 3.07 |
| Netherlands | 2.93 |
| Germany | 2.75 |
| Average | 3.26 |
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Please expand this article. Some suggested sources are given hereafter. More information might be found in a section of the talk page. (January 2012) |
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Patriotism |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Patriotism |
| Wikisource has the text of the 1921 Collier's Encyclopedia article Patriotic Societies. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Dansk (Danish)
n. - patriotisme
Nederlands (Dutch)
vaderlandsliefde
Français (French)
n. - patriotisme
Deutsch (German)
n. - Patriotismus, vaterländische Gesinnung
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πατριωτισμός, φιλοπατρία
Italiano (Italian)
patriottismo
Português (Portuguese)
n. - patriotismo (m)
Español (Spanish)
n. - patriotismo
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fosterlandskärlek
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
爱国心, 爱国精神
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 愛國心, 愛國精神
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) وطنيه, حب للوطن
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - אהבת המולדת, פטריוטיות
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