September 2, 2025––The National Constitution Center and Pulitzer-winning public media organization PRX today announced Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness, a new 12-part podcast series exploring how the founders of the United States understood personal growth as essential to common good. An audio trailer is available now.
Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness will debut on Monday, September 8. New episodes will then be released weekly on Tuesdays free across all major podcast platforms. A podcast of the National Constitution Center, the series is hosted by Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen, author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. The podcast is brought to listeners in partnership with PRX and produced by PRX Productions, the organization’s team of acclaimed audio creatives.
As the United States nears the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which enshrines the evocative unalienable right to “the pursuit of happiness,” the podcast will illuminate the founders’ quest for happiness in their own lives. Beginning with a lively introduction to the virtues that inspired founders like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson––including moderation, temperance, and humility––episodes will include insights into the lives of George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, James Madison, Phillis Wheatley, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and more. Each episode within the series will also feature perspectives from leading historians and scholars including Lindsay Chervinsky, Robert P. George, Stacy Schiff, and Eric Slauter, as well as insight from iconic filmmaker Ken Burns, who will also share how the nation’s founders inspired self-improvement in his own life. Burns’s new film, The American Revolution, co-directed with Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, will air and stream on PBS beginning November 16, 2025.
“It’s so inspiring to talk with Ken Burns about his daily efforts to achieve self-mastery and to interview great American historians about the founders’ daily efforts to be better people,” said National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. “Learning about the founders’ understanding of the pursuit of happiness as being good, not feeling good, changed my life, and I hope it will inspire listeners as well.”
The podcast also includes songs with music and lyrics by Rosen. They are arranged by Greg Strohman and performed by baritone James Martin, with Jennifer Blyth at the piano and Strohman on trombone for the theme song.
“Pursuit has so much to offer: conscientiously produced interviews with engaging experts, founders-inspired self-reflection listeners can try on their own, and introductions to influential historical figures that listeners likely did not learn about in school,” said PRX Productions’ Lead Senior Producer Genevieve Sponsler. “We’re proud to partner with the National Constitution Center to bring this enriching new podcast to listeners everywhere.”
Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness can be found on-demand via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and beyond, as well as on the National Constitution Center’s website as a feature of the new America at 250 Civic Toolkit. It is made possible through the generosity of the John Templeton Foundation.
About Jeffrey Rosen
Jeffrey Rosen is the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for the New Yorker.
Rosen’s new book, The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America, is out in October 2025. His other books include New York Times bestsellers The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America and Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft.
Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School. He is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute. In 2024, the French government recognized him as a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
About PRX
Celebrating more than 20 years as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit PRX.org for more.
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About the National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia brings together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. A private, nonprofit organization, the Center serves as America’s leading platform for constitutional education and debate, fulfilling its congressional charter “to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” As the Museum of We the People, the Center brings the Constitution to life for visitors of all ages through interactive programs and exhibits. As America’s Town Hall, the Center brings the leading conservative and liberal thought leaders together to debate the Constitution on all media platforms. As a Headquarters for Civic Education, the Center delivers the best educational programs and online resources that inspire citizens and engage all Americans in learning about the U.S. Constitution. For more information, call 215-409-6700 or visit constitutioncenter.org.
