"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence, and considered by some as one of the most well crafted, influential sentences in the history of the English language. These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights" of man.
Origin and phrasing
Some believe that the famous phrase is based on the writings of English philosopher John Locke, who expressed that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."[1] Others believe that the phrase comes from Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. See the Introduction, Section 2, of the Nature of Laws in General.
The first article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776 and written by George Mason, is:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Benjamin Franklin was in agreement with Thomas Jefferson in downplaying protection of "property" as a goal of government, replacing the idea with "happiness."[2] The United States Declaration of Independence, which was primarily written by Jefferson, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The text of the second section of the Declaration of Independence reads:
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.
A differing analysis on the origin of this phrase was provided in his (award winning) book “INVENTING AMERICA Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence”, where historian Garry Wills argues [final paragraph, part two]:
When Jefferson spoke of pursuing happiness, he had nothing vague or private in mind. He meant a public happiness which is measurable; which is, indeed, the test and justification of any government. But to understand why he considered the pursuit of that happiness an unalienable right, we must look to another aspect of Enlightenment thought - to the science of morality.
Wills addresses the “the science of morality” in part three (regarding “the pursuit of happiness”, eminently in chapters 16-18).
Wills states, “If he [Jefferson] meant to signal dependence on Locke in his Declaration, he chose an odd way of doing it when he omitted the central concept of Locke in its most expected place.” – by substituting “the pursuit of happiness” for “property”. Wills further suggests, “… we should turn to the principal delineator of unalienable rights in Jefferson’s intellectual milieu – to Francis Hutcheson.”
Of Hutcheson, Wills states, “No one did more in the eighteenth century to encourage the measuring of public happiness than did Francis Hutcheson, with his 1725 formula for ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number.’” But Wills also points out that Locke himself used the phrase “pursuit of happiness” conspicuously, and that there was significant agreement by these two men: both saw it as a “constant determination”.
Wills here suggests this contribution from Adam Ferguson:
If, in reality, courage and a heart devoted to the good of mankind are the constituents of human felicity, the kindness which is done infers a happiness in the person from whom it proceeds, not in him on whom it is bestowed; and the greatest good which men possessed of fortitude and generosity can procure to their fellow creatures is a participation of this happy character. If this be the good of the individual, it is likewise that of mankind; and virtue no longer imposes a task by which we are obliged to bestow upon others that good from which we ourselves refrain; but supposes, in the highest degree, as possessed by ourselves, that state of felicity which we are required to promote in the world (Civil Society, 99-100).
Closing for Wills, and his understanding of what Jefferson meant by “the pursuit of happiness”, Wills states:
Within its original rich context, the pursuit of happiness is a phenomenon both obvious and paradoxical. It supplies us with the ground of human right and the goal of human virtue. It is the basic drive of the self, and the only means given for transcending the self.
Worldwide influence
This tripartite motto is comparable to "liberté, égalité, fraternité" (liberty, equality, fraternity) in France or "peace, order and good government" in Canada.[3]
The phrase can also be found in Chapter III, Article 13 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan, and in President Ho Chi Minh's 1945 declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. An alternative phrase "life, liberty and property", is found in the Declaration of Colonial Rights, a resolution of the First Continental Congress. Also, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads, "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
References
- ^ Locke, John (1690). Two Treatises of Government (10th edition). Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/trgov10h.htm. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ Franklin, Benjamin (2006). Mark Skousen. ed. Completed Autobiography. Regnery Publishing. pp. 413. ISBN 0895260336.
- ^ Dyck, Rand (2000). Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches (3rd edition). Thomas Nelson. ISBN 978-0176167929.
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