The Pursuit of Happiness

By Thomas F. Schwartz

The most important and memorable phrase in the Declaration of Independence is: “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.” These sentiments were not original with Thomas Jefferson and appeared in various forms from other writers. George Mason, a contemporary of Jefferson and author of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights wrote: “that all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divert their posterity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” The crucial difference in language between Jefferson and Mason is that Jefferson makes right unalienable, or those that cannot be taken away from individuals. Property is alienable and can be sold or taken, hence the “the pursuit of happiness.” For Mason, the ownership of property was part of the fruit of exercising life and liberty to better oneself materially in the pursuit of happiness.

As previous blogs have pointed out, Hoover understood protecting these rights of the individual from government intrusion equated with Lincoln’s definition of the right to rise or equality of opportunity. Material betterment was not the main purpose in the pursuit of happiness. The Founders, like ancient writers, emphasized the importance of cultivating virtue to advance civic ideals. In the 19^th Century, individuals like Lincoln represented self-made people or the making of the self through the development of one’s character and moral core. Developing one’s character was necessary for self-improvement and the pursuit of happiness, but it also benefited the larger community as the individual would see their larger obligations to society.

The pursuit of happiness was founded on rights given not by man but “their Creator.” In exercising these rights, self-improvement allowed for the pursuit of happiness. For the Founders, independence and self-governance supported by cultivating civic virtue was primary. For Abraham Lincoln, seeking to prevent the destruction of the American experiment in self-government, it was preserving the “open field and fair chance” of all by ending slavery. Hoover’s American Individualism argues for maintaining the truths of the Declaration for the 20^th Century,  preserving individual freedoms from popular government forces and guaranteeing unalienable rights. For Hoover, the pursuit of happiness was contained in preserving Lincoln’s “open field and far chance” for future generations.