The “pursuit of happiness” is one of the most famous phrases in American history, and when America’s founders wrote it in the Declaration of Independence, they intended it to mean happiness through lifelong learning and self-improvement.

To start our series, Jeffrey Rosen and scholar Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, trace how the meaning of pursuit of happiness has changed. Then, American filmmaker Ken Burns shares how — even as he has spent his “entire life trying to figure out the United States” — daily self-reflection has given him new perspectives on what the founders faced 250 years ago.

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Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness is made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation. © 2025 National Constitution Center. All Rights Reserved.

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