In an earlier draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson used the phrase “life, liberty and property.”  During editing this was changed to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Jefferson’s intellectual heroes were Newton, Bacon, and Locke.  He most likely found this passage in Locke’s 1690 essay Concerning Human Understanding, which was a sort of series of philosophical essays about life, the universe, and everything.  Locke wrote:

52. The necessity of pursuing true happiness the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action, and from a necessary compliance with our desire, set upon any particular, and then appearing preferable good, till we have duly examined whether it has a tendency to, or be inconsistent with, our real happiness: and therefore, till we are as much informed upon this inquiry as the weight of the matter, and the nature of the case demands, we are, by the necessity of preferring and pursuing true happiness as our greatest good, obliged to suspend the satisfaction of our desires in particular cases.

Got all that?

That’s what I thought.  I had to go back and read it about 20 30 times before I got it, and at that I had to read some of the preceding passages until I understood those as well.  Some of the words, like “necessity” and “good” had specific meanings 200 years ago that we don’t have today.  ”Necessity” refers to all those things that affect us that we have no control over.  ”Good” means those things that lead to “pleasure.”  “Pleasure” probably  didn’t have the same meaning that we use today.  “Happiness” refers to our well being.  ”Happiness” in this context is the opposite of misery.

The full passage can be found in context here:

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke1/Essay_contents.html

The passage is found in Concerning Human Understanding in the book Of Ideas, Chapter XXI Of Power.

Let me save you some time and interpret Locke’s passage:

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance to what will make us happy.  Once we know what will make us happy, the choices we need to make become simpler and more obvious, but still need vigilance.

By Locke’s philosophy, the two greatest threats to liberty are our lack of attention to what misleads us with false ideas of what will make us happy, and our lack of attention to the proper choices we need to make to achieve real happiness.

Perhaps when Mr. Jefferson and company change the phrase from “property” to “the pursuit of happiness” were trying to warn us about something today.

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.

– John Philpot Curran

The pursuit of happiness is a natural right.  What does that mean?

One way of looking at natural rights is to consider whether we would be harmed if someone took them away.  The rights listed, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are things that we are naturally harmed with if someone were to take them away.  If someone took our life, we would certainly be harmed.  If someone took away our liberty, we would certainly be harmed.  But what does it mean to take away our “pursuit of happiness?”

The wording of the enumerated rights is subtle, but not technically flawed.  I can say “I’m going to take away your life” and that would make sense.  I can say “I’m going to take away your property” and that would make sense.  If I say “I’m going to take away your pursuit of happiness” the sentence appears to not work because it sounds like I’m taking away your pursuing of happiness.  However, “pursuit” in the famous phrase is used as a noun.  It means your occupation, or employment, or what you do.  It is like your work or hobby.  It is your pursuit.  It is your natural, God-given quest.  Your pursuit of happiness is your occupation of finding happiness.

The phrase could be written in modern vernacular as “the pursuit of working towards our greater well being.”

In the philosophy of Locke, the innate pursuit of happiness is the primary natural human drive. The pursuit of happiness is natural to all living things.  Crabgrass tries to live in the rich soil of my yard.  My yard grass tries to grow into the rich soil of my flower beds.  Trees extend their branches out to receive the best sunlight.  My dog gives me puppy dog eyes and begs for food.  All these living things are exercising their pursuit of happiness.

Human being have a natural, instinctive pursuit of happiness too because we are living things.

The pursuit of happiness is a natural right because if someone denied you the ability to act with respect to your desire for happiness, you would be harmed.

I hope I helped explain this for you.  If I wasn’t clear about something, please drop me a line.

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