“Pursuit of Happiness”

Creating the Declaration of Independence | Creating the United States Constitution | Creating the Bill of Rights

Revolution of the Mind | Battle Joined | Founded on a Set of Beliefs | Peace | Declaration Legacy

Henry Home, Lord Kames. Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, in Two Parts. Edinburgh, 1751. Thomas Jefferson Library Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (4)
[Digital ID# us0004]

Enlarge
Add to my collection
Send a postcard

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.