The Pursuit of Happiness

Posted on May 13, 2005 by sheila

One of the most interesting (and moving) things to me about those 18th century philosopher politician types is the continuous use of the word “happiness”. It has multiple levels of meaning … and doesn’t at all have the sort of shallow connotation that it has today (where “happiness” is some sort of psychological achievement that you can reach by doing daily meditation, forgiving your parents, watching Oprah every day, or following the Food Pyramid step by step). No. It’s not that kind of emotion they are talking about. Happiness isn’t easy, or inevitable. It had to be planned for, it had to be nurtured, it had to be fought for. Happiness was that important, happiness was that essential. It wasn’t a byproduct of the new government, it wasn’t an accident or a coincidence, or something to hope for … it was one of the primary and conscious GOALS of the new government. Happiness. Imagine that. It’s stunning to contemplate. Happiness is a worthwhile goal. Happiness is essential to the health of a nation. What exactly did they mean by it? Well, you can go back and read all the primary sources, all their letters, and pamphlets, and papers and figure it out. It’s all there. They talk about it – to themselves, to each other, to the public, all. The. Time. Happiness, happiness … How could the new government be constructed as to protect “happiness” … Tough and thorny questions, obviously. This concern with “the pursuit of happiness” was nothing less than a revolution in thought, a leap forward in man’s expectations for himself.

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6 Responses to The Pursuit of Happiness

  1. JFH says:
    May 13, 2005 at 6:38 pm

    I think that “the pursuit of happiness” is a perfect phrase to follow “life” and “liberty”. It implies that the first two don’t guarantee “happiness” but that freedom allows you to “go for the gold”, in what ever terms that means to YOU.

  2. Ken Hall says:
    May 13, 2005 at 11:43 pm

    I once read (dipped if I can recollect where, and I have no idea why I’m writing like Old Tex tonight) that “happiness” was originally “property” in an early draft, but that’s beside the point. What I take away from it is that liberty is more than an abstract notion, that one is free to pursue whatever ends one wishes (short of infringing upon the liberties of another).

  3. Big Dan says:
    May 14, 2005 at 12:35 am

    And, as always, the pursuit is more important than the goal pursued. We are not guaranteed happiness, but rather the ability to pursue it, which is by far the most important.

  4. red says:
    May 14, 2005 at 1:03 am

    Ken –

    Yes, in the Declaration of Independence that was one of Jefferson’s greatest accomplishments: to not just declare that the colonies would be independent, but to shine a light to the rest of humanity. The first two paragraphs of that thing are beyond compare.

  5. red says:
    May 14, 2005 at 1:04 am

    Dan – exactly. Happiness can never be guaranteed in a free society. But we should be able to pursue it as we see fit.

  6. red says:
    May 14, 2005 at 1:05 am

    JFH: Totally! It’s amazing, ain’t it?

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