Unalienable Right to the Pursuit of Happiness versus Private Property Rights

Many Americans really have no clue of what they are contending for when they hear the phrase, “pursuit of happiness.” It may be that this is, at least subconsciously, the impetus behind the “cult of happiness” that pervades the thinking of Americans. You know, the idea that if it makes you happy it must be good. That is not even close to what the founders had in mind when they listed the “pursuit of happiness” as an example of the citizens unalienable rights.

“The pursuit of happiness” was an expansion of the idea of property, from the popular terminology of the day, “life, liberty, and property.” Some are tempted to believe that the founders were abrogating the concept of the sanctity of private property, by replacing the term property with the phrase “pursuit of happiness.” Not true; the founders were actually expanding the idea of the sanctity of property to include religious liberty.

The founders, who were influenced by the doctrines of the reformation, based their belief in the sanctity of private property largely in the dominion mandate of Gen. 1:28-30, and in the eighth and tenth commandments of the Decalogue. They believed that government had a responsibility to protect this God given right from encroachment from outside invaders. They understood that government had no authority to infringe upon this right as well.

They did not limit the sanctity of property to material things. In fact they believed that conscience was the most sacred of all property. Included in the unalienable right to “the pursuit of happiness” was the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of ones conscience, therefore religious freedom deserved the protection of government under the doctrine of the sanctity of private property.

If certain rights are unalienable, because they are bestowed by God, it is a Christian virtue to protect those rights. An understanding of God given rights based on Biblilcal knowledge is essential to protecting these rights. The American founders laid the foundation for the most free, most prosperous nation on earth precisely because they understood the rights of men, and the principles of government from a Biblical perspective. The more you learn about the foundations of the founder's thinking the more you will bless God for the heritage that is yours as an American.