Reflection on America’s 250th Part 2: Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

In Part Two, I will analyze the three inalienable rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence and how they apply to every American. Visit the previous article to read about the first part of America’s reflection on her 250th birthday.

The Declaration of Independence has a line that is most quotable by many.  Jefferson wrote, "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."

The three rights we are given by God can never be taken away. Sadly, our culture is slowly making them a distant memory.  

Life

Let’s look at the right to life. For nearly half a century, Roe v Wade has cost 60 million lives through legalized abortion. While Dobbs struck it down, the nation is still healing and has begun building a culture of life.

Reflecting on life, Fulton Sheen writes, “Each person has a value because God made him, not because the State recognizes him. The day we adopt in our democracy the already widespread ideas of some American jurists that right and justice depend on convention and the spirit of the times, we shall write the death warrant of our independence.”  

George Washington wrote to Tench TilghmanI, “I shall persevere … so as to make that peace and independence, which we have fought for and obtained, a blessing to the millions yet unborn.” Our nation’s first president acknowledged his duty to the millions of Americans who are yet to come.

James Wilson, signer of the Declaration and the Constitution, and a Supreme Court Justice, wrote, “With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life, from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law … Life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected.” (Lectures on Law (1789 to 1791), Part 2, Chapter XII Of The Natural Rights Of Individuals 69). In other words, Wilson acknowledges the fact that life begins at conception.

Liberty

Liberty is defined as the state of being free from oppressive restrictions or control by an authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.

God gave us liberty so we can do what is pleasing to him. It is right to stand against tyrants, speak our minds, and even go about our day without coercion.

George Orwell wrote, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” Orwell tells us that we must tell people what they refuse to acknowledge or accept. 

Pursuit of Happiness

The final right from God can mean checking off a long list of experiences like destinations, ballparks, etc. It has something deeper than earthly things, as they will never satisfy the hungry heart.

"The desire for happiness is of divine origin. God has placed it in the human heart to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it." (CCC 1718). God desires us just as we desire him. We can never be happy unless we center it on having God at the center.

St. John Paul the Great reminds us, "God made us for joy. God is joy, and the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us."  When God is in our hearts, minds, lips, and daily activities, he will never abandon us.

These three rights can never be taken away. Why? Because they all point to God, He is the author of life. He wants us to be free. He also yearns for all of his children.