The Pursuit Of Happiness Declaration Of Independence Meaning

Happiness is mentioned specifically in the declaration an addition that becomes somewhat unusual upon further scrutiny.

The pursuit of happiness declaration of independence meaning. It is our moral duty to reclaim every american s right to pursue his or her own happiness. Preamble to the declaration of independence. Thomas jefferson may have been borrowing from the 17th century english philosopher john locke when he coined the phrase life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Governments have something to say about those states by how they govern their citizens.

The meaning of the pursuit of happiness. The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the declaration says have been given to all humans by their creator and which governments are created to protect. Unlike the other founding documents the declaration of independence is not legally binding but it is powerful. You are either alive or dead free or enslaved.

We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the declaration of independence we find perhaps the most concise expression of those very ideas and beliefs. The pursuit of happiness is the most famous phrase in the declaration of independence. He was almost certainly influenced by george mason s virginia declaration of rights adopted june 12 1776 which referred to the enjoyment of life and liberty with the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Further the declaration doesn t guarantee the right to happiness the thought usually goes but only the right to pursue what makes you happy. In the declaration the pursuit of happiness is listed with the other unalienable rights of life and liberty those are qualities of existence states of being. An article courtesy of the thomas jefferson encyclopedia. The declaration is clear.

The declaration of independence states the principles on which our government and our identity as americans are based. Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is a well known phrase in the united states declaration of independence. The founders believed in individual liberty defined by the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness secured by a government created for that purpose gaining its legitimate power from the consent of the governed. Locke noted that this pursuit is not merely an imaginary quest or a satisfaction of personal desires but an ability to achieve the greatest good free.

T he right to the pursuit of happiness affirmed in the declaration of independence is taken these days to affirm a right to chase after whatever makes one subjectively happy. After all nearly 100 years before jefferson penned the declaration of independence locke wrote that the foundation of liberty is built on the need to pursue happiness.