Here’s something that you probably didn’t learn in school: America’s founders spent much of their time reading about how to be better people. And that lifelong quest for self-improvement––in order to be more virtuous citizens––was what they meant by “the pursuit of happiness.” They defined happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good. However, the founders often failed to live up to this lofty goal, and many were honest about their shortcomings. Each episode of Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness expands upon one of the classical virtues that inspired Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson––like temperance, humility, silence, and justice––through the founders’ own writings and through conversations with the historians who know them best. Plus, filmmaker Ken Burns joins host Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, to share their own founders-inspired self-improvement practices. As we near the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, exploring the true meaning of the “pursuit of happiness” inspires us to reflect on the importance of lifelong learning and how we can change our own lives for the better. Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness, is a 12-part series hosted by Jeffrey Rosen featuring Ken Burns and leading scholars. It explores how the founders understood personal growth and lifelong learning as essential to the common good, why those ideas matter today, and how you can put them into practice. Listen to the first episode, “In Order to Be Happy,” on September 8. New episodes will be released every Tuesday.Stay Connected and Learn More
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Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness is made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation. © 2025 National Constitution Center. All Rights Reserved.
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