The Pursuit of Happiness: How the Term has Changed Sense our Founding.
- Joseph Jones
- Jul 16, 2019
- 2 min read
“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.” This is the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence. The Idea established in this document and the “truths” established in the quote above would set forward a notion of ideas that would guide the birth of our nation.
However, in modern times a lot of the words laid out in the Declaration of Independence have different meanings than that of which they once held. And none has changed so much more than our definition of the word happiness.
Webster’s Dictionary defines happiness as “a pleasurable or satisfying experience” a moment in time in which one is happy. This can not be more different from the definition of happiness that the founding fathers wrote into the Declaration of Independence.
The term happiness comes from the Old English/ Norris term of Happ. Happ was used summarily with how we would use words like luck, equality, or successes today. Francis Hutcheson, an Irish philosopher brought a new and, more political interpretation of happiness to English language with his 1725 book an Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. He redefined and simplified the term saying happiness is “that Action is best which accomplishes the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers; and that worst, which in like manner occasions Misery.” His writings would change the meaning of the word and would lead do our modern definition.
As Americans we have forgotten the old definition of happiness, and look on the Declaration and other important founding documents with modern eyes. Not accounting for what the founding fathers actually wanted to communicate. in his 2005 lecture at the National Conference on Citizenship Justice Kennedy spoke on this topic saying. “Happiness meant that feeling of self-worth and dignity you acquire by contributing to your community and to its civic life.” Not the modern idea of self-satisfaction. As Americans we should take note of this. And Remember that true happiness dose not come from self-satisfaction, but from the service of others and your community.
Comments