The Pursuit of Happiness

How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America

By: Jeffrey Rosen

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins, Jeffrey Rosen

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A fascinating examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy.

The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives.

By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen shows us how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good—the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. Among those virtues were the habits of industry, temperance, moderation, and sincerity, which the Founders viewed as part of a daily struggle for self-improvement, character development, and calm self-mastery. They believed that political self-government required personal self-government. For all six Founders, the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with enslavement of African Americans, although the Virginians betrayed their own principles.

The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy.

©2024 Jeffrey Rosen (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

The research that it took to complete the task.

I liked all of it, I’d heard an interview with Jeffrey Rosen and was intrigued.

Must Reading

If Jefferson, Franklin and Adam’s were alive, they’d add this to their library and reading list.
You should too.

Thought-provoking. Highly recommend.

This book was recommended by Retired Federal Judge J. Michael Luttig. I found it to be thought-provoking and enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommend!

Great book; highly recommended

I cannot recommend this book enough. I picked up this book (and audiobook) to get a better idea of the founders views and influences when they established the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, but I walked away completely inspired by the individuals who came before us and amazed by the impact ideals stemming from over 2000 years ago as to how happiness should be pursued had on the founding generation. The concepts talked about in this book make me question why happiness as a concept of continual self improvement achieved by self discipline (self government—taught to students by studying primary and secondary sources on the topic) is not central to how education is taught in the United States. I am hopeful these ideals can be returned to a more prominent place in the educational system going forward. I certainly know I needed this book to help fill in a glaring gap in my education.

Excellent & Insightful

Jeffrey Rosen tells a great narrative of how the founding fathers were shaped by books from the classical and enlightenment period. He brilliantly demonstrates a line from classical Greece and Rome to the Scottish and enlightenment all the way up to our constitution and to our modern society. I recommended to anyone who is a student of American history, stoicism, government and politics, or anyone looking for a self-help book.