"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights" of man. The Pursuit of Happiness are a Canadian rock group, who were one of Canadas most successful independent bands in the 1980s. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the famous phrase from which the title derives, see Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. ... The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies were independent of Great Britain. ... The term inalienable rights (or unalienable rights) refers to a set of human rights that are in some sense fundamental, are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered. ...

Phrasing

The phrase is based on the writings of John Locke, who expressed a similar concept of "life, liberty, and estate (or property)". While Locke said that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions", John Locke coined the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property". The expression "pursuit of happiness" was coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his 1759 novel Rasselas. For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... For other persons named Samuel Johnson, see Samuel Johnson (disambiguation). ... The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, often abbreviated to Rasselas, is a short story by Samuel Johnson, which he wrote in 1759 to help pay for his mothers funeral. ...

Written by Thomas Jefferson, the words in the Declaration were a departure from the orthodoxy of Locke and Smith. Locke's phrase was a list of property rights a government should guarantee its people; Jefferson's list, on the other hand, covers a much broader spectrum of rights, possibly including the guarantees of the Bill of Rights such as free speech and a fair trial. The change was not explained during Jefferson's life, so beyond this, one can only speculate about its meaning. This tripartite motto is comparable to "liberté, égalité, fraternité" (liberty, equality, fraternity) in France or "peace, order and good government" in Canada.^[1] Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 N.S.–4 July 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–09), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. ... A bill of rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a group of people. ... Tripartite motto is the conventional English term for a motto, a slogan, or an advertising phrase in the form of a hendiatris. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... In Canada, the phrase peace, order and good government (in French, paix, ordre et bon gouvernement), called POGG for short, is often used to describe the principles upon which that countrys Confederation took place. ...

The phrase can also be found in Chapter III, Article 13 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan. Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Constitution of Japan ) has been the founding legal document of Japan since 1946. ...

An alternative phrase "life, liberty and property", is found in the Declaration of Colonial Rights, a resolution of the First Continental Congress. The Declaration of Colonial Rights, also known as Declaration of Rights or Declaration of Rights and Grievances, was a set of resolutions adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 14, 1774 to ...state the rights of the Colonies in general, the several instances in which these rights are violated... The First Continental Congress was a body of representatives appointed by the legislatures of twelve North American colonies of Great Britain in 1774. ...

Pursuit of happiness

The phrase "pursuit of happiness" appeared in the Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, which focused on an anti-miscegenation statute. Justice Warren wrote: Holding The Court declared Virginias anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restriction on marriage in the United States. ... Frederick Douglass with his second wife Helen Pitts Douglass (sitting) who was white, a famous 19th century American example of miscegenation. The woman standing is her sister Eva Pitts. ... For the swing saxophonist and occasional singer, see Earle Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 20th Attorney General of California, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ...

The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.

The phrase is used in the depression-era case Meyer v. Nebraska, which is seen as the seminal case interpreting the "liberty" interest of the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment as guaranteeing, among other things, a right to the pursuit of happiness, and, consequently, a right to privacy. Holding The Court held that a 1919 Nebraska law prohibiting the teaching of modern foreign languages to grade school children unconstitutionally violated the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment. ... In United States law, adopted from English Law, due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that the government must normally respect all of a persons legal rights instead of just some or most of those legal rights when the government deprives a person of life... The Fourteenth Amendment may refer to the: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - contains the due process and equal protection clauses. ...

However, earlier judicial opinion, in BUTCHERS' UNION CO. v. CRESCENT CITY CO., 111 U.S. 746 (1884), considered Jefferson's phrase to refer to one's economic vocation of choice rather than the more ephemeral search for emotional fulfillment, although one may be predicated on the other. Justice Miller wrote: A vocation is an occupation, either professional or voluntary, that is seen to those who carry it out as offering more than simply financial reward. ...

Among these inalienable rights, as proclaimed in that great document, is the right of men to pursue their happiness, by which is meant the right to pursue any lawful business or vocation, in any manner not inconsistent with the equal rights of others, which may increase their prosperity or develop their faculties, so as to give to them their highest enjoyment.

References

1. ^ Dyck, Rand. Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches. Third ed. Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning, 2000.

• Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Documents in American History. P. Scott Corbett and Ronald Naugle (ISBN 0-07-283999-6)
• Independence 1776. A. J. Langguth.