What is Patriotism
“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.”{1898 ATJ, WIP 1.2}
It is loyalty to those principles and institutions. It is obedience to these principles and institutions. And a Patriot is "any defender of liberty civil or religious" When investigating the underlying principles that make America great, we would look to the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S Constitution. Which summarily hold to the "self-evident truths that all men are created equal and have certain unalienable rights and freedoms, gifted to them by God."