Civics Lesson: Part VI (The Pursuit)

Now, we come to the last of the rights Jefferson specifically enumerated in our nation's Declaration of Independence; the Pursuit of Happiness. But, what specifically is the Pursuit of Happiness? If one were to actually do some basic digging into our nations founding, one would find that the three rights colonial Patriots demanded were Life, Liberty, & Property. Our Founding Fathers understood that in order to pursue happiness one needed to acquire property and have the right (and responsibility) to keep it.

Why did the slogan "No Taxation Without Representation" become a major battle cry in the 1770s? Because, what the Founders knew is that taxation deprives people of property. While they knew taxes were needed to run any government, the fact that the colonies had no say in the implementation of the taxes the English Parliament imposed upon them. If the colonies had members in Parliament advocating their position, there might not have been a Boston Massacre or Tea Party. It was the fact that the farmers of western Pennsylvania had representation in the new federal US Congress that allowed President Washington to federalize the militia and quell the 1790s Whiskey Rebellion.

Colonial Patriots viewed English taxation as a confiscation of property without due process protections that those in the Mother Country were entitled. If taxes could be imposed without the consent of the colonist or through their colonial legislature, then what other abuses would King or Parliament enact if the colonist had no recourse to address grievances?

The Pursuit of Happiness, the acquisition of property, is the culmination of having the right to live and the responsible exercise of liberty. It is the equal access to the opportunity to excel as best as our talents and ambition will allow. Unfortunately, some people look at the inequality of outcome as a wrong to be corrected. (Are we all created for equal outcomes?)

There are people that have not learned that it is God that dispenses blessings. They are easily duped by those that promise to use the force of government to take care of them. They have not learned the lessons of the apostle Paul to be content no matter one's circumstances (Philippians 4:10-13). These poor people are robbed of the Pursuit of Happiness and are enslaved to a welfare system that does not bring happiness, just misery that comes from the lack of effort to better themselves.

And just because you have acquired property and wealth does not mean you will have achieved the happiness we all are trying to pursue. Money does not buy happiness, and merely acquiring wealth and property does not bestow contentment. Just as Paul found contentment through God in want or plenty, rich and poor can find discontentment in their situation because of the selfishness of the human heart each of us is born with.

God has given us the right to acquire possessions and property. The amount should be based on the talent, knowledge, blessing, and some would say luck that has been given each individual. But as with all rights, the right to Pursue Happiness has its responsibility. What do we do with the wealth and property we obtain? Jesus put it as simple as possible, "Rend unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." (Matthew 22:15-22 & Mark 12:13-17). Pay taxes, because God has blessed us to be citizens of a great nation. Give to church and charity, because God has blessed you, period. Either way - Give. Give with a grateful heart without the spiritual cancer of selfishness.

Civics Lesson: Part V (Liberty)

The next right that Jefferson enumerated is Liberty. What is Liberty? Many use freedom and liberty interchangeably. This is a misnomer. Freedom is merely a component of Liberty. So, what is liberty? It is a fine balance between freedom of choice (freewill) and objective morality.


When one has too much freedom without the constraint of objective morality, ones life will descend into anarchy. When one is constrained by too much morality with out the ability to freely choose between right and wrong, ones life will descend into tyranny.

What is objective morality? It is the laws of nature and nature's God that our Creator has given us in Holy Scriptures - a form that the finite mind of fallen men & women can understand. These laws are apart of the self-evident Truths that Jefferson alluded to in the Declaration of Independence. Subjective morality (each individual defining their own moral laws) is the same as the relative truth of secular humanism (See Part I). When a society that operates in subjective morality, it operates in unbridled freedom that leads to anarchy. When anarchy becomes unbearable, one person's or group's subjective morality becomes the standard (instead of God's morality). It is the subjective morality of the few that becomes the objective morality for the rest of society. The only way for it to be enforced is by corrosion. A tyranny manifests itself where the rule of law based on the objective morality of God is replace with the rule of personality based on the subjective morality of the tyrant.

We must beware that we don't use the objective morality that was lovingly give to us by God as a religiously legalist tyranny. While the Truth of God's morality is good the use of this truth to tear people down to build yourself up is just as evil as the imposition of another person's subjective morality on the rest of us. Liberty is not license to sin, but freedom to make our choices and reap the consequences for them (for more on the tyranny of condemnation).

We see the basis for liberty in the Creation Story in Genesis. God's love for humanity (consisting of just Adam & Eve at the time) was demonstrated by the freedom given by God (eat of any tree in the garden) and the morality set by God (except for the tree of the knowledge of good & evil) with the consequences spelled out by God (life for choosing not to eat, death for choosing to eat).

When Eve chose to listen to the lies of the serpent, when Adam chose not to protect his wife from the serpent, when they used their freewill to choose to eat from the forbidden tree, they reaped the responsibility of the right of the liberty they exercised. The consequences we are still reaping today.

Liberty is the freedom to choose between what God defines as right and wrong, and to be awarded the consequence of those choices - in the here & now and the hereafter.

Author Note & Edit: I just saw this quote and thought that is summed up what I was trying to say in this article:

"We can breathe the air of liberty only to the extent that we are ready to bear the burden of moral responsibility associated with it."
—Wilhelm Röpke (1899-1965)