INSTRUCTIONS:??Read the following text well in order to understand what you need to analyze in your meditation:
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson names three basic, God-given, rights of every man: rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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 consent of the governed...?(From "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson)
These rights are without a doubt an idea borrowed from John Locke who discussed them in his "Second Treatise of Civil Government", the book that Jefferson used as an ideological ground for a bigger part of the Declaration of Independence.
Sect. 87. Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom, and an uncontrouled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature, equally with any other man, or number of men in the world, hath by nature a power, not only to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate (property), against the injuries and attempts of other men; but to judge of, and punish the breaches of that law in others, as he is persuaded the offence deserves, even with death itself, in crimes where the heinousness of the fact, in his opinion, requires it.?(From "Second Treatise of Civil Government" by John Locke)
What is obvious is that, as the third basic human right, instead of "property", Jefferson lists "the pursuit of happiness". ?Jefferson has possibly found this term, which he considered as more appropriate for the American Declaration of Independence, in another Locke's essay - "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", although there is no written evidence of this being his actual source. This Locke's essay discusses human pursuit of happiness in multiple sections, perhaps most notably in the following one that is concerned with man's necessity to refrain from indulging in some lesser forms of happiness (and recognizing them as such) in order to gain his ultimate "true and solid happiness".
52. 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. ?(From "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" by John Locke)
Regardless of whether this formulation of "the pursuit of happiness" was what Jefferson had in mind or not, for this Meditation analyze and focus primarily on the Declaration of Independence. Consider the historical context of its creation, its importance and meaning and answer the following questions:???INITIAL POST INSTRUCTIONS:
Explain why, in your opinion, Jefferson chose to change "property" into "the pursuit of happiness"? Why did he consider this term to be more appropriate for the American Declaration of Independence? ?Think about this from multiple perspectives, (e.g. think about America in Jefferson's time and about America today - just a suggestion, not a requirement for writing your post) and then give a clear opinion on the given question and support it by arguments.