"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence.[1] The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the Declaration says he been given to all humans by their creator, and which governments are created to protect. Like the other principles in the Declaration of Independence, this phrase is not legally binding, but has been widely referenced and seen as an inspiration for the basis of government.[2]
Origin and phrasing[edit] Main article: United States Declaration of Independence Further information: History of the United States ConstitutionThe United States Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five, which consisted of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. It was then further edited and adopted by the Committee of the Whole of the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.[3][4] The second paragraph of the first article in the Declaration of Independence contains the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
Jefferson's "original Rough draught" is on exhibit in the Library of Congress.[5] This version was used by Julian Boyd to create a transcript of Jefferson's draft,[6] which reads:
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ...
The Committee of Five edited Jefferson's draft. Their version survived further edits by the whole Congress intact, and reads:[7]
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 number of possible sources of inspiration for Jefferson's use of the phrase in the Declaration of Independence he been identified, although scholars debate the extent to which any one of them actually influenced Jefferson. The greatest disagreement comes between those who suggest the phrase was drawn from John Locke and those who more strongly attribute to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[citation needed]
Lockean roots hypothesis[edit]In 1689, John Locke argued in Two Treatises of Government that political society existed for the sake of protecting "property", which he defined as a person's "life, liberty, and estate".[8] In A Letter Concerning Toleration, he wrote that the magistrate's power was limited to preserving a person's "civil interest", which he described as "life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the possession of outward things".[9] He declared in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding that "the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness".[10] According to those scholars who saw the root of Jefferson's thought in Locke's doctrine, Jefferson replaced "estate" with "the pursuit of happiness", although this does not mean that Jefferson meant the "pursuit of happiness" to refer primarily or exclusively to property. Under such an assumption, the Declaration of Independence would declare that government existed primarily for the reasons Locke ge, and some he extended that line of thinking to support a conception of limited government.[11][12][13][14][15] The Boston Pamphlet (1772), the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (1774), and the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) also declare the right to life, liberty and property.
Virginia Declaration of Rights[edit]The first and second article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason and adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776, speaks of happiness in the context of recognizably Lockean rights and is paradigmatic of the way in which "the fundamental natural rights of mankind" were expressed at the time:[16][17] "That all men are by nature equally free and independent and he 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."[18]
Independence Hall Assembly Room where Thomas Jefferson served in CongressBenjamin Franklin was in agreement with Thomas Jefferson in playing down the protection of "property" as a goal of government. It is noted that Franklin found the property to be a "creature of society" and thus, he believed that it should be taxed as a way to finance civil society.[19]
Alternative hypotheses[edit]In 1628, Sir Edward Coke wrote in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, his commentary on Thomas de Littleton, that "It is commonly said that three things be foured in Law, Life, Liberty, Dower."[20] At common law, dower was closely guarded as a means by which the widow and orphan of a deceased landowner could keep their real property.[21]
Jefferson's phrase may be specifically based on his Epicureanism. In his Letter to William Short, Jefferson said: "As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing every thing rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome he left us."[22] The 29th of Epicurus' 40 Principal Doctrines (on the hierarchy of desires) states that desires may be natural and necessary, natural and unnecessary, or neither natural nor necessary.[23] Jefferson may he been enshrining a version of the "natural and necessary" category of desires into the social contract of his new country. In his Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus of Samos stated "that among the necessary desires some are necessary for happiness, some for physical health, and some for life itself".[24] Although the Declaration of Independence does not mention health, this may be included under "life", and liberty and autarchy are cardinal values of Epicurean philosophy.
Garry Wills has argued that Jefferson did not take the phrase from Locke and that it was indeed meant to be a standard by which governments should be judged.[25] Wills suggests Adam Ferguson as a good guide to what Jefferson had in mind:
"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."[26]
The 17th-century cleric and philosopher Richard Cumberland wrote that promoting the well-being of our fellow humans is essential to the "pursuit of our own happiness".[27] Locke never associated natural rights with happiness, but his philosophical opponent Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made such an association in the introduction to his Codex Iuris Gentium.[28] William Wollaston's The Religion of Nature Delineated describes the "truest definition" of "natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth".[29] An English translation of Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui's Principles of Natural and Politic Law prepared in 1763 extolled the "noble pursuit" of "true and solid happiness" in the opening chapter discussing natural rights.[30] Historian Jack Rakove posits Burlamaqui as a source in addition to Locke as inspiration for Jefferson's phrase.[31]
Another possible source for the phrase is in the Commentaries on the Laws of England published by Sir William Blackstone, from 1765 to 1769, which are often cited in the laws of the United States. Blackstone argues that God 'has so intimately connected, so inseparably interwoven the laws of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual, that the latter cannot be attained but by observing the former; and, if the former be punctually obeyed, it cannot but induce the latter. In consequence of which mutual connection of justice and human felicity, he has not perplexed the law of nature with a multitude of abstracted rules and precepts, referring merely to the fitness or unfitness of things, as some he vainly surmised; but has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this one paternal precept, “that man should pursue his own true and substantial happiness.” This is the foundation of what we call ethics, or natural law.'[32]
Comparable mottos worldwide[edit]The phrase is similar to a line in the Canadian Charter of Rights: "life, liberty, security of the person" (this line was also in the older Canadian Bill of Rights, which added "enjoyment of property" to the list).
The phrase can also be found in Chapter III, Article 13 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan, Chapter II, Article 10 of the 1987 Constitution of South Korea, 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.
The Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declare that governments cannot deprive any person of "life, liberty, or property" without due process of law. Also, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads, "Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person".
References[edit] ^ "The Declaration of Independence: Rough Draft". USHistory.org. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2014. Scanned image of the Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, written in June 1776, including all the changes made later by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other members of the committee, and by Congress. ^ "The Declaration of Independence". National Archives. 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2020-12-02. ^ Rakove, Jack N. (2009). The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 7–22. ISBN 978-0674036062. ^ Dube, Ann Marie (May 1996). "The Declaration of Independence". A Multitude of Amendments, Alterations and Additions. Pennsylvania: U.S. National Park Service. OCLC 44638441. Archived from the original on 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2013-11-04. ^ "Thomas Jefferson, June 1776, Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 17, 2020. ^ Boyd, Julian P., ed. (1950). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Volume 1: 1760–1776. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 243–247. OCLC 16353926. ^ "Declaration of Independence: A Transcription". U.S. National Archives. November 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2021. ^ Locke, John (1988) [1689]. Laslett, Peter (ed.). Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. Sec. 87, 123, 209, 222. ISBN 052135448X. ^ Locke, John (1983) [1689]. Tully, James H. (ed.). A Letter Concerning Toleration. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 091514560X. ^ Locke, John (1975) [1689]. Nidditch, Peter H. (ed.). Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. Book 2, Chapter 21, Section 51. ISBN 0198245955. ^ Zuckert, Michael P. (1996). The Natural Rights Republic. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. pp. 73–85. ISBN 0268014809. ^ Corbett, Ross J. (2009). The Lockean Commonwealth. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1438427942. ^ Pangle, Thomas L. (1988). The Spirit of Modern Republicanism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226645401. ^ Gibson, Alan (2009). Interpreting the Founding (2nd ed.). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700617050. ^ Rahe, Paul A. (1994) [1992]. Republics Ancient & Modern, Volume 3; Inventions of Prudence: Constituting the American Regime. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 13–19. ISBN 080784473X. ^ Rakove, Jack N. (2009). The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0674036062. ^ Banning, Lance (1995). Jefferson & Madison. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 17, 103–104. ISBN 0945612486. Lance Banning notes that the Virginia Declaration of Rights was the inspiration for the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, but does not trace it back to Locke, and in general downplays Jefferson's debts to Locke. ^ "The Virginia Declaration of Rights". U.S. National Archives. 4 November 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2021. ^ Franklin, Benjamin (2006). Skousen, Mark (ed.). The Compleated Autobiography. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. p. 413. ISBN 0895260336. ^ Coke, Edward (1628). The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. London: Adam Islip. Section 193. OCLC 84760833. ^ Whitehead, Edward Jenkins (1922). The Law of Real Property in Illinois. Vol. 1. Chicago: Burdette J. Smith & Company. p. 178. OCLC 60731472. ^ "LETTER: Thomas Jefferson to William Short". ^ "Principal Doctrines, by Epicurus". ^ "Letter to Menoikeus, by Epicurus". ^ Wills, Gary (2002) [1978]. Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. New York: Mariner Books. ISBN 978-0618257768. ^ Ferguson, Adam (1995) [1767]. Oz-Salzberger, Fania (ed.). An Essay on the History of Civil Society. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN 052144215X. ^ Cumberland, Richard (2005) [1727]. A Treatise of the Laws of Nature. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund. pp. 523–524. ISBN 0865974721. ^ Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1988). Riley, Patrick (ed.). Leibniz: Political Writings (2nd ed.). Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 171. ISBN 0521353807. ^ Wollaston, William (1759) [1722]. The Religion of Nature Delineated (8th ed.). London: Samuel Palmer. p. 90. ISBN 978-0598846105. OCLC 2200588. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) ^ Burlamaqui, Jean-Jacques (2006) [1747]. The Principles of Natural and Politic Law. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund. p. 31. ISBN 0865974969. ^ Rakove, Jack N. (2010). Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 300. ISBN 978-0618267460. ...arguably owed more to Jefferson's reading of the Swiss jurist Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui than it did to his manifest debt to John Locke. ^ Blackstone, William (1765). "Section the Second: Of the Nature of Laws in General". Commentaries on the Laws of England. Clarendon Press. pp. 40–41. OCLC 65350522. Further reading[edit] Conklin, Carli N. (2019). The Pursuit of Happiness in the Founding Era: An Intellectual History. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0826221858. LCCN 2018043085. Eicholz, Hans (2008). "Pursuit of Happiness". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 408–410. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n252. ISBN 978-1412965804. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024. vteUnited States Declaration of Independence Physical history of the Declaration of Independence Memorial to the 56 Signers Founding Fathers Syng inkstand Primary author Thomas Jefferson SignatoriesPresident of Congress John Hancock (Massachusetts) New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Matthew Thornton Massachusetts Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins William Ellery Connecticut Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New York William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark Pennsylvania Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross Delaware George Read Caesar Rodney Thomas McKean Maryland Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton North Carolina William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward Jr. Thomas Lynch Jr. Arthur Middleton Georgia Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton Delegates votingfor Independence(did not sign)New York: Robert R. Livingston, Henry Wisner Maryland: John Rogers, Matthew TilghmanRelated Halifax Resolves Virginia Declaration of Rights Second Continental Congress Lee Resolution Committee of Five "All men are created equal" "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" "Consent of the governed" 27 grievances Document's history signing Charles Thomson Timothy Matlack Journals of the Continental Congress United Colonies Independence Hall Syng inkstand American Revolution Displayand legacy National Archives Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom Independence Day Anniversaries Centennial Sesquicentennial Bicentennial Semiquincentennial Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Washington, D.C.) Signers Monument (Georgia) Pine portrait Trumbull portrait Statue of Liberty vteThomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809) 2nd Vice President of the United States (1797–1801) 1st United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) U.S. Minister to France (1785–1789) Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (1783–1784) 2nd Governor of Virginia (1779–1781) Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1776) Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention (1776) Foundingdocuments ofthe United States A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774) Olive Branch Petition (1775) Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775) Declaration of Independence (1776) Committee of Five physical history "All men are created equal" "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" "Consent of the governed" Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) Land Ordinance of 1784 Land Ordinance of 1785 French Revolution Co-author, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) Presidency Act Prohibiting Importation of Sles Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Expedition Empire of Liberty Dunbar and Hunter Expedition Red River Expedition Pike Expedition Cumberland Road Embargo Act of 1807 Chesapeake–Leopard affair Non-Intercourse Act First Barbary War Native American policy Burr conspiracy Marbury v. Madison West Point Military Academy State of the Union Addresses 1801 1802 1805 Cabinet Federal judicial appointments Other notedaccomplishments Early life and career Franco-American alliance Founder, University of Virginia history Ratification Day Anti-Administration party Democratic-Republican Party Jeffersonian democracy Coinage, Weights, and Measures report (1790) State Department Library Residence Act Compromise of 1790 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801) Jefferson disk Swivel chair Megalonyx Jeffersonianarchitecture Barboursville Farmington Monticello gardens Poplar Forest University of Virginia The Rotunda The Lawn Jefferson Hall Virginia State Capitol White House Colonnades Other writings The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) Pyratical states of Barbary proposals (1786) European journey memorandums (1787) Indian removal letters The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (c. 1819) Jefferson manuscript collection Founders Online Related American Enlightenment American Philosophical Society Founding Fathers of the United States Historical reputation Jefferson and education Religious views Jefferson and slery Jefferson and the Library of Congress Jefferson Pier Pet mockingbird National Gazette Relationship with Alexander Hamilton Sally Hemings Jefferson–Hemings controversy Betty Hemings Separation of church and state Shadwell plantation Tuckahoe plantation Tufton Farm Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia) Virginia dynasty Ward republic Elections Presidential elections 1796 1800 1804 Legacy andmemorials Bibliography Jefferson Memorial Mount Rushmore Birthday Thomas Jefferson Building Jefferson River Jefferson Territory Fort Jefferson Jefferson Lecture Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Square Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service Statues Karl Bitter Louisville University of Virginia Did d'Angers Jefferson Literary and Debating Society Thomas Jefferson Foundation Jefferson Lab Monticello Association Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson College Thomas Jefferson University Washington and Jefferson National Forests Peaks and mountains Jefferson Rock Other placenames Jefferson–Jackson Day Currency depictions Jefferson nickel Two-dollar bill Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar 250th Anniversary silver dollar Semiquincentennial coinage U.S. postage stamps Culturaldepictions Alexander Hamilton (1931 film) Declaration of Independence (1938 film) The Patriots (1946 play) 1776 1969 musical 1972 film Jefferson in Paris (1995 film) Thomas Jefferson (1997 film) The Revolution (2006 miniseries) John Adams (2008 miniseries) Jefferson's Garden (2015 play) Hamilton (2015 musical) Thomas Jefferson (2025 miniseries) The American Revolution (2025 miniseries) Wine bottles controversy Cultural depictions of Sally Hemings Family Martha Jefferson (wife) Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter) Mary Jefferson Eppes (daughter) Beverley Hemings (son) Harriet Hemings (daughter) Madison Hemings (son) Eston Hemings (son) Thomas J. Randolph (grandson) George W. Randolph (grandson) Ellen Randolph Coolidge (granddaughter) Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (granddaughter) Francis Eppes (grandson) John Wayles Jefferson (grandson) Sarah N. Randolph (great-granddaughter) T. Jefferson Coolidge (great-grandson) Frederick Madison Roberts (great-grandson) Peter Jefferson (father) Jane Randolph Jefferson (mother) Lucy Jefferson Lewis (sister) Randolph Jefferson (brother) Peter Carr (nephew) Samuel Carr (nephew) Dabney Carr (nephew) Dabney S. Carr (grand-nephew) Isham Randolph (grandfather) William Randolph (great-grandfather) Henry Soane (2nd great-grandfather) ← John Adams James Madison → ← John Adams Aaron Burr → Category vteGeorge MasonUnited StatesFounding events Drafted, 1769 Virginia Association resolutions Primary author, 1774 Fairfax Resolves Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention Primary author, 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights "All men are created equal" Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness Freedom of the press Freedom of religion Consent of the governed Baseless search and seizure Cruel and unusual punishment Speedy trial 1776 Virginia Constitution Seal of Virginia 1785 Mount Vernon Conference 1787 Constitutional Convention "high crimes and misdemeanors" Virginia Ratifying Convention Co-father, United States Bill of Rights history Founding Father Writings inspired Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789, France) United States Bill of Rights (1789) Life Chopawamsic plantation Gunston Hall On slery Ohio Company Legacy George Mason Memorial George Mason University George Mason Stadium George Mason, Virginia George Mason Memorial Bridge George Mason High School 18-cent postage stamp Related Age of Enlightenment American Enlightenment American Revolution patriots Wilson v. Mason Hollin Hall Woodbridge plantation Mason's Island Family George Mason V (son) William Mason (son) Thomson Mason (son) John Mason (son) Thomas Mason (son) George Mason III (father) Thomson Mason (brother) George Mason II (grandfather)