When G.K. Chesterton visited America in 1922 he remarked, “America is the only country ever founded on a creed.” He elaborated:

The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man. (“What I Saw in America”)

Chesterton seems to be describing, if not an American religion, a theory of America. He is describing ideas on which America was founded. He is giving reasons to admire America. Chesterton’s rhetoric concerning America can easily confuse readers of his earlier works, including “The Flag of the World” in his book Orthodoxy (1908), in which he wrote:

Mere jingo self-contentment is commonest among those who have some pedantic reason for their patriotism. The worst jingoes do not love England, but a theory of England. If we love England for being an empire, we may overrate the success with which we rule the Hindoos. But if we love it only for being a nation, we can face all events: for it would be a nation even if the Hindoos ruled us. Thus also only those will permit their patriotism to falsify history whose patriotism depends on history. A man who loves England for being English will not mind how she arose. But a man who loves England for being Anglo-Saxon may go against all facts for his fancy. He may end (like Carlyle and Freeman) by maintaining that the Norman Conquest was a Saxon Conquest. He may end in utter unreason–because he has a reason.

There are two separate concepts being covered here: 1) what a specific country is, and 2) how and why one should love their own country. Intuitively, we would like to consider #1 the reason for #2. Should not the concept of what a thing is be the reason for why one loves it? But, Chesterton distinguishes between the two concepts. To Chesterton, America had reason for coming into being but the Americans should not love America for that reason, or any reason.

The creedal interpretation of America is usually called the “proposition nation” theory. This is the concept that America is a specific idea that is spelled out in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. To the question: Is America an idea? Chesterton would answer in the affirmative. However, he would warn against loving America for the idea. If you love America for a specific reason, what happens when the reason no longer exists? As the reason goes, so goes your love of country. To illustrate this point, Chesterton uses the example of the troubled English neighborhood Pimlico: