Why the Pursuit of Happieness?

One of the major aspects of LibertarianSense.com is to educate the people of the United States. Today, we’ll address a common misconception about history and our Founding Fathers!

A key part of the Declaration of Independence says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Why do you think it says the “pursuit of Happiness?”

It ties into the Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 2- the key parts in bold: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Person as, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

The “representatives” is referring to the House of Representatives and the “three fifths of all other Persons” is referring to African-American slaves.

The common misconception of the 3/5 of a person was because the founding fathers were “racists and bigots” and didn’t think that slaves were real people. THIS IS NOT THE CASE AT ALL!

The original draft of the Declaration of Independence said “Property” but was changed to “the pursuit of Happiness.” Why is the question!

Believe it or not, the South (slave owners) fought tooth and nail to count slaves as a “full person” in order to increase the number of persons in the South, in order to increase the number of representatives in Congress. This would have shifted the balance of power, with their representation having gone through the roof! This would be like the populous vote of California against North Dakota... North Dakota would not have a chance preventing slavery from ever being outlawed!

At the time (July 4th, 1776), slaves were considered to be property. If the Declaration of Independence would have said that “property” was an “unalienable Right,” the South would have forever argued that slaves were property and ownership of them was an “unalienable right” granted to them from God.

So to answer the question of why the “pursuit of Happiness” is considered an “unalienable Right” in the Declaration of Independence is so the Founding Fathers left the door open to outlaw slavery!

One of the GREATEST dangers to the Republic is the “progressive” movement that started in the early 1900’s and is being rammed down our throats by President Obama and his flunkies. The progressives want you to believe the Founding Fathers were racists and bigots. If they are able to discredit them, they are able to eat away at your beliefs in them, the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The question you should really be asking yourself is... why are they doing this? What is the objective?

To read more about this, find a text book that is not written by Progressives or read books about the Constitutional Convention or from some of the Founding Fathers. Check out the LibertarianSense.com Book page for some great suggestions.