What are traditional American virtues? I’ll just go with Thomas Jefferson’s take on the matter:
“…industry, self-reliance, frugality, self restraint or control, modesty, temperance, fortitude, cheerfulness, civility, compassion, and respect for the property of other persons.” Jean M. Yarbrough, author of American Virtues: Thomas Jefferson on the Character of a Free People.
Except for compassion, these virtues seem rather quaint and old-fashioned. Yet they continue to resonate for many Americans and clearly inform the political views of conservatives. Take these virtues seriously and a vision of the common good assumes a certain shape. But before I get to that, let’s consider the virtues one by one:
Industry: “Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.” Ben Franklin
Self-Reliance: “Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.” Thomas Jefferson
Frugality: “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself. Waste Nothing.” Ben Franklin
Self-Restraint or Control: “Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.” "When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.” Thomas Jefferson
Modesty: “Modesty is a matter of how you present yourself, not drawing attention to your good points. ... Modesty is therefore good to the extent that it promotes humility.” Financial Times (Ok, so I cheated here - couldn’t find a decent quote from Jefferson or Franklin on modesty)
Temperance: “Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.” Ben Franklin
Fortitude: “…fortitude, you know, is one of his four cardinal virtues. That teaches us to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards.” Thomas Jefferson
Cheerfulness: “I have often wondered for what good end the sensations of grief could be intended. All our other passions, within proper bounds, have an useful object. And the perfection of the moral character is, not in a stoical apathy, so hypocritically vaunted, and so untruly, too, because impossible, but in a just equilibrium of all the passions.” Thomas Jefferson
Civility: “The more compromise we can find, and the more civility and harmony between us, the likelier we are to prevail as a great nation.” Thomas Jefferson
Compassion: “I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied as to do the most good of which it is capable.” Thomas Jefferson
Respect for Property: “…a right to property is founded in our natural wants, in the means with which we are endowed to satisfy these wants, and the right to what we acquire by those means without violating the similar rights of other sensible beings.” Thomas Jefferson
Next: The politics of virtue
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Reference:
Yarbrough, Jean M. (1998) American Virtues: Thomas Jefferson on the Character of a Free People. Lawrence: Kansas.