“Pursuit of Happiness”
When Thomas Jefferson asserted the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence, he was influenced by the writings of Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–1782). Kames was a Scottish moral philosopher who argued for the right to “the pursuit of happiness” in his acclaimed work Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion. Jefferson owned and annotated this copy.
When Thomas Jefferson asserted the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence, he was influenced by the writings of Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–1782). Kames was a Scottish moral philosopher who argued for the right to “the pursuit of happiness” in his acclaimed work <em>Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion</em>. Jefferson owned and annotated this copy.