The Pursuit of Happiness

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, so it seems appropriate to blog about the main themes of the Declaration of Independence, signed 235 years ago in Philadelphia. Let’s take a look at the phrase that is probably the most famous phrase in that famous document: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration, claimed that those three items are “inalienable rights” – in other words, rights ordained by God and inherent in every human being, since we are all “created equal.” (We’ll skip the hassle over the reference to “all men” and assume that the phrase really meant “all people.”) Documents internal to the group that helped Jefferson draft the Declaration indicate that “life” and “liberty” were quickly accepted, but that “happiness” required a bit more conversation before it was accepted for the finished document.

One report notes that there was some support for the phrase “life, liberty, and property,” but that apparently seemed too mundane and materialistic. More interestingly, to my mind, is the report that an early draft qualified the term “happiness” as “public happiness.” Apparently the founders of our nation eventually felt that “happiness” was inherently and obviously bound up with the public good and thus there would be no possibility that anyone would misinterpret “happiness” as a simple self-centered preoccupation with personal pleasure, gain, or success at the potential expense of others. In that era of enlightenment thinking, happiness itself was seldom thought of as a selfish or self-centered proposition.

As we look back, perhaps the founders should have been more precise and retained the full phrase, “public happiness.” Philosophers of all persuasions have consistently noted the inseparable and reciprocal nature of freedom and responsibility to the community that provides that freedom. Contemporary psychology is now rehabilitating our notions of “public happiness” in its recognition that authentic happiness is never just a matter of self-aggrandizement, but is intimately bound up with networks of relationships, with one’s place in the community, and with larger visions of meaning and purpose.

Every Fourth of July we should all celebrate and give thanks for the blessings of life, liberty, and opportunities to pursue happiness, but we should also reflect a bit on our responsibilities as citizens.