Question

John Locke's statement on rights pointed to 'life, liberty, and property,' while Thomas Jefferson's pointed to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' With the historical context in mind, analyze the differences in meaning between these two phrases. Then, provide an explanation for the reasons why you think 'property' was changed to 'the pursuit of happiness' in the Declaration of Independence. Response should be at least one paragraph in length.

Answer 1

Having the historical context in mind, the differences in meaning are the following:

• On the one hand, John Locke's statement on rights to 'life, liberty, and property,' he points out the idea of property to allude to the period in which people were not allowed to own anything, not even their own person. When he argued that the main goal of a government is to protect property rights, he meant that it must protect those rights "including the right to enjoy the fruits of our labor". When developing this ideas, Locke was influenced by society in the Americas.

• On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson, who was inspired by Locke's ideas, pointed to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. While there is a great debate for what he refers to when he says "pursuit of happiness", the common meaning, in 1776, may have been "prosperity, thriving, wellbeing" or as Locke (since he was Jefferson's influence) describes it in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: "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."

• "Property" may have been changed to "pursuit of happiness" since, taking into account that Jefferson harshly criticized the slavery system implemented by England in the Declaration of Independence's draft, it removed the slave as the conviction of property felt by the southern states. Another reason he used this specific phrase is to highlight his own personal interest in promoting public education. Both John Locke and Thomas Jefferson wrote about “the pursuit of happiness,” influenced by the Greek and Roman philosophical conception that happiness is linked to the civic virtues of courage, moderation, and justice, and not by wealth.