Is pursuit of happiness a basic right?

Answer 1

No. You have the right to life, to liberty, but there is nothing that will guarantee that you will be happy. Happiness is an outcome of living, but who determines if you are happy or not? You do. With rights there is a measure of the right. The government can execute you for murder and take your life, so the "right to life" has been taken ( Supreme Court using this reasoning made the death penalty illegal in 1969). If the government arrests you without due process your liberty has been taken. These can be measured and seen, but "happiness" is internal and determined by you. What may make one person happy may not make you happy. So, using this logic happiness is not a right.

The above answer is not an answer to this question. HAPPINESS may not be a basic right (maybe), but the question was about the PURSUIT of happiness.

To quote the Declaration of Independence: "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--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles and and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

It in no way guarantees happiness itself, but yes, Americans have every right to try to find it for themselves.