>>>>In the Declaration of Independence, ratified
on July 4 of 1776, we see Thomas Jefferson's
expression of the American mind. It is still
the founding charter of American politics,
the deepest resource that Americans have looked
to again and again over the generations. A
rich document that draws on the natural rights
philosophy of Locke, that draws on republican
values, that draws on English constitutional
law. And in this text Jefferson claims that
men have a natural right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Life and liberty
are straightforward enough, but the pursuit
of happiness is a harder phrase. And we should
resist all temptation to imagine that this
is a flight of rhetoric. As beautiful as the
language, is life liberty and the pursuit
of happiness, the idea of happiness and specifically
even the language of the pursuit of happiness,
is fundamentally a part of 18th century political
thought. And so when Jefferson invokes the
pursuit of happiness, he does so intentionally
and deliberately. We need to ask though, what
it means both to Jefferson and to us today.
What does it mean to say you have a right
to the pursuit of happiness? What does that
claim entail for a citizen of America today?
