[Loyalty] is a tradition, an ideal, and a principle. It is a willingness to subordinate every private advantage for the larger good. It is an appreciation of the rich and diverse contributions that can come from the most varied sources. It is allegiance to the traditions that have guided our greatest statesmen and inspired our most eloquent poets — the traditions of freedom, equality, democracy, tolerance, the tradition of the higher law, of experimentation, co-operation, and pluralism. It is a realization that America was born of revolt, flourished on dissent, became great through experimentation.

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

Essay (1947-00), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 4, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
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Reprinted in Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954).