In the Declaration of Independence,
why did Thomas Jefferson use the phrase “life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness”? Often today, we speak of the three most fundamental rights as life,
liberty, and property. Thomas Jefferson was a highly intelligent man and the
phrase life, liberty, and property was not an unknown term to him. Was there
something deeper he was trying to express by saying “pursuit of happiness”? I
think there was.
First of all, what thoughts come to
your mind when you think of happiness? The thoughts that come to my mind are
contentment, satisfaction, fulfilled. Grammatically, happiness in a state of
being; it is what we are and not something we have. Also, I think of happiness
as being pleased with your state of being, feeling like life could not be
better, or feeling free. This last idea of happiness, feeling free, is an idea
used by many people especially in the advertisement industry. The featured
products or philosophy always promises freedom from this problem or that
condition or what not, which in turn will make you happy. The point being
happiness is the feeling of being free. This all brings me to the subject I
want to discuss.
For the sake of clarity in this
essay, a few definitions should be established. Liberty is the ability to act
and choose. Freedom is the state of being unrestricted or not being controlled.
For my purpose I will adopt the definition of happiness as feeling free or
unrestricted.
Being happy and pursuing happiness
are two different things. I am sure glad he did not say being happy was a
fundamental right, enemies of liberty would have loved that, because it would
give them an excuse to try make government the provider of happiness, just like
they have been trying to do with health care. It is just infeasible and
completely contrary to the proper role of government. Anyway, Jefferson did not
say happiness was a fundamental right, but “the pursuit of happiness” is.
Being free to pursue what you think
will make you feel free is a pretty broad idea. However, it is wonderful
because it includes property and a whole bunch of other things as well. Most
people thing the acquisition of material things will bring them happiness. They
assume it will make them feel unrestricted by hunger, want, lack of resources
or whatever limitation they are trying to escape. Others think that certain
objects are necessary to attain happiness, other feel that an organization like
a specific church or club is essential to happiness. Believing what you want to
believe is important to our “pursuit of happiness”, and still other feel that
nothing will make them happy so they should be free to have or do nothing.
Being free to move or stay in one place is involved in pursuing a feeling
unrestricted, and ownership is vital as well because it provides an opportunity
feel uncontrolled in how they use what they own. If anything ownership is
necessary even to just provide for the basic necessities of life, which to some
is crucial to pursuing happiness, others could care less. However, like all
fundamental rights, the right to seek happiness in no way permits one to
trample on the fundamental rights of others.
Basically, my object was to dig
deeper into the denotation and connotations what Jefferson was trying to say.
At least, I hope to have encouraged my readers to ponder more deeply into this
important issue.
This was David, hosting and posting
as usual. “Feel unrestricted” in sharing your opinion or insights with me, but
be nice, because you never know when I may post again.
