The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America

What did “the pursuit of happiness” mean to our nation’s Founders, and why was it included in the Declaration of Independence? Listed as one of America’s unalienable rights, this phrase finds its roots in the classical works of the Greek and Roman moral philosophers which would have made up our Founders’ libraries. Speaking to the moral character that the Founders hoped to imbue in the new American citizen, it also exemplified a dedication to the idea of personal self-government. Yet like so many of our founding documents, this phrase in the Declaration of Independence sat in stark contrast to the legality of slavery in the new nation. In conversation with David Rubenstein, constitutional expert Jeffrey Rosen explores the origins and implications of this iconic phrase in the American lexicon. 

Recorded on March 4, 2024