Introducing “Self-Reliance”
Of the virtues found the world over, from time immemorial to the present day, the one virtue which Americans might wish to associate themselves most closely is that which was serenely and gravely articulated by that great scholar, thinker, essayist, speech-give, poet, and dreamer, the father of Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson: namely, the virtue of self-reliance. 
Among the ancient or noble virtues, however, self-reliance is conspicuously absent. We take great care to note, appreciate, and foster such old-fashioned qualities as these: 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Truth</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Honor</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Industry</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Temperance</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Valor</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Discipline</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Moral Courage</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Steadfastness </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Perseverance </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Courtesy</li>
</ul>
Old-fashioned they may be, but ennobling as well, and worth keeping not only in the memory, but in the halls of the heart. But where among this carefully curated list might we find self-reliance? Not until Emerson began to dip his pen into an inkwell was it ever set down in such a fashion. The notion that a personal—a most personal—quality could become a national characteristic, a watchword for the great republic, that would take imagination and a little moxie on the page.
So what might he mean by it, Emerson, self-reliance?
For that you must read the pages, speak the words, and fill up the margins with your own brave sentiments. For now, know this much, and keep it beside you no matter what: follow your heart. 
And happy reading! 
-Allen Guy Wilcox