#295 The Pursuit of Happiness w/ Jeffrey Rosen
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2024
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The inalienable right to "the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, but what exactly does that phrase mean? While Americans today may associate it with the right to own land, opulence or some other act of acquisition, many prominent founders understood it to mean something quite different. In this episode National Constitution Center President & CEO Jeffrey Rosen returns to the show to give us the full story and discuss his new book The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
The Pursuit of Happiness will be available on February 13 via all major publishers. Click here to pre-order your copy, find out more about the book, and see Jeffrey Rosen's upcoming speaking engagements.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out Jeffrey's previous appearance on our show in The Road to Now #211, The Constitution w/ Jeffrey Rosen.
Highlighted Resources from the National Constitution Center
–The Interactive Constitution (also available as an app in the apple and android app stores)
–We The People with Jeffrey Rosen podcast (available anywhere you get The Road to Now)
If you're in Philadelphia, you can visit the National Constitution Center, which is located just steps from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Click here to plan your visit!
This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Bob Crawford. |
| 0:06.1 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the road to now. |
| 0:10.1 | And today's road loops back around to a former guest on the show, a guy who, I got to say, I know I do a podcast and I'm used to hearing people's voices. |
| 0:20.5 | But just hearing him talk earlier on made me excited because I'm a huge fan of his podcast and the work that he does. |
| 0:26.7 | Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Jeffrey Rosen back to the road to now. |
| 0:30.5 | Thank you, guys. |
| 0:31.2 | So great to be back. |
| 0:32.5 | Jeffrey, our listeners will remember that you're the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which we encourage everyone to go visit when they're in town. |
| 0:42.5 | And you also, as Ben alluded, you host the We the People podcast. |
| 0:47.1 | It's a weekly podcast about Constitution and constitutional debate. |
| 0:52.3 | You're also a professor of law at George Washington University |
| 0:56.9 | Law School contributing editor at the Atlantic, but you've written a book about the classics, |
| 1:06.6 | about the classic thinkers that inspired our nation's founders. |
| 1:11.7 | Your book, The Pursuit of Happiness, |
| 1:14.5 | How Classical Writers on Virtue inspired the lives of the founders |
| 1:18.4 | and defined America. |
| 1:20.9 | Tell us a little bit about the book, |
| 1:22.5 | about what inspired you to write it. |
| 1:26.2 | Well, I'm so excited to talk about it with you, and it was an unexpected inspiration. |
| 1:32.6 | It was during COVID, and I was reading Ben Franklin on the 13 virtues. |
| 1:39.9 | He decided in his 20s to achieve moral perfection, this very lofty goal, and he made this list |
| 1:46.0 | of 13 virtues like temperance and prudence and humility, and he put X marks every night next to |
... |
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