Robin,
  I _think_ it was Howard Mumford Jones, in a book entitled The Pursuit of
Happiness, who observed that in Jefferson's day the sense of "pursuit"
was not a chasing after something - as in chasing after happiness - but
rather "pursuit" more in the sense of pastime or activity, so that the
sense of the phrase was akin to 'the enjoyment of happiness.'  A
pleasant thought for our multi-tasking age.

   When I checked the Library of Congress catalogue to help recollect the
author, I also noticed a 1794 lecture on the Pursuit of Happiness by
Caroline Robbins : I don't know the lecture, but her scholarship was
splendid and well-informed and might be worth a look.

   In drafting the Declaration, Jefferson substituted the phrase for
"property" in John Locke's trio: life, liberty, and property.

All the best,
Jon

> Does anyone know what exactly "pursuit of hapiness" meant to the founding
> fathers and people of the revolutionary era?  I guess my larger question
> is how
> did the phrase come to be written into the Declaration of Independence?
>
> Thanks,
> Robin Gabriel
> Monticello Education Department
>
>
Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President
Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial
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Phone 434-376-2044 or 800-514-7463

Fax 434-376-2647

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- Edith Poindexter, Curator