State patriotism in the United States is much diminished in our time in favor of national patriotism, and indeed has been on the decline ever since the end of the Civil War. Today Americans move quickly and easily over great distances, settle in states far from the one in which they were born without giving the matter much thought, and hardly even notice in which state which they are traveling except for the change in most of the license plates they see on the highway. Of course this was always a country where tearing up roots and moving farther west to start all over again was a tempting option for those who had failed where they were, or who had greater ambitions, but loyalty to one's "home state" was at one time an important fact of American life. Robert E. Lee's belief that he was first and foremost a Virginian, and owed to Virginia an allegiance stronger that that which he owed to the United States, may seem to some extreme now, but it was by no means so in his lifetime.
-Michael Korda, Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee
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