4th of July 2024
The Pursuit of Happiness
This year we celebrate 248 years of the Great Experiment. A movement that would fundamentally reshape the world as it was known at the time. Inspired in no small part by the Age of Enlightenment which had its roots in the teachings of the Greek & Roman philosophers such as Cicero, Pythagoras, and Xenophon. Xenophon’s writings would share with the world the teachings of Socrates. 1776 was a world of Kings, Monarchs, Military Dictators, and other forms of totalitarian rule, the idea of self-governance was completely alien to the people around the world. In fact, it would be almost 100 years before democracy would be seen in another country and even today, only half the world enjoys self-governance.
It was called the Great Experiment for a reason. That after centuries, the people of a nation had the right to determine their destinies. This year, I’d like to drill deeper into the thinking and approach of the founding fathers. To try to better understand their vision and views of the world. And to better set the context, the world was in the "Age of Enlightenment" at the time. Men like John Locke and Francis Bacon were challenging people's mindsets on issues such as natural law, liberty, and the separation of church and state. These were the influencers at the time.
Which leads us to the leaders of Colonial America. Men such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and John Adams to name just a few. Thomas Jefferson would pen a document, the results of which we celebrate on the 4th of July, the Declaration of Independence.
And virtually everyone knows the most famous quote from the Declaration of Independence, the line that inspired this day’s celebration.
“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.”
For many, this may be the only part of the Declaration they can recall or that they paid much attention to in school. What is interesting is how it is at the very core of why educated and landed men, men with much to lose would chose a path not just less traveled but one which had never been traveled. A path that made them traitors and risked everything including their lives. A path of self-government where the power was vested with the people not with kings or monarchs or military. This path would be referred to as the “great experiment” and it would rock the world as we knew it at the time.
This year, let us focus on the less obvious portion of the phrase, “the pursuit of happiness”. This phrases' meaning is much less clear than the more obvious terms “life” and “liberty”. What did the Founding Fathers think that the pursuit of happiness meant? A phrase that was originally meant to be the pursuit of property. Jefferson changed the wording, in part because of his own uneasiness about slavery which was a concern shared by fellow slaveholders like George Washington. For this, let’s focus on the more philosophical meaning of the phrase in the context of Jefferson's and others' of the era's thinking.
This could have been worded as “pursuit of virtue”. The idea that every day was a day to strive for excellence, to improve one’s self. No doubt in part inspired by A biblical phrase from Luke:
“"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked"
On their own, both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin would publish a list of those things they wanted to do every day to “be better”. Jefferson’s list below:
A dozen Canons of conduct in life
1. never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. Franklin’s: Be always employed in something worthwhile,
2. never trouble another with what you can do yourself
3. never spend your money before you have it
4. never buy a thing you do not want, because it is cheap, it will be dear to you.
5. take care of your cents: Dollars will take care of themselves!
6. pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. Jefferson would later add “humility” to his list.
7. we never repent of having eat[en] too little.
8. nothing is troublesome that one does willingly.
9. how much pain have cost us the evils which have never happen d
10. take things always by their smooth handle.
11. think as you please, & so let others, & you will have no disputes.
12. when angry, count 10. before you speak; if very angry, 100.
So while some may think “pursuit of happiness” means having a good time, be merry, in the context of the time of the founding fathers, they saw it as a challenge to achieve personal excellence and to serve others.
We celebrate our 249th year, please enjoy the weekend (for many a very long weekend), and arrive alive but I challenge you to heed the wise words of our Founding Fathers, inspired by the great philosophers to make each day better than the one before. This, the combined works of millions of Americans, is what creates American Exceptionalism.
When we consider these views of the world and of a greater good, it makes more clear the motivation of these men (I have focused on Jefferson and Franklin for this work) who themselves to be better daily but to a larger obligation to make their world better for everyone in it.
Sadly, too many today want to view TickTock videos, act as if the world owes them something, or don’t feel the calling of Travis Manion, “if not me, then whom?” (Travis Manion was a Marine killed in the Global War on Terror whose brother created a foundation in his honor which uses that phrase as their motto). Too many self-loath about American Exceptionalism as if it is a negative.
And credit where it is due, this year’s treatise was inspired by a current book entitled, “Pursuit of Happiness” authored by Jeff Rosen, President of the National Constitution Center. It drills deep into the thinking and inspirations of our Founding Fathers.
