Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide To Happiness

Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide To Happiness is a 12-part series hosted by Jeffrey Rosen that explores how the founders understood personal growth, and how you can put those ideas into practice today. Pursuit is made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

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Featured Episodes and Content

Episode One: In Order to Be Happy

To start our series, Jeffrey Rosen and scholar Robert P. George trace how the meaning of pursuit of happiness has changed. Then, Ken Burns shares new perspectives on what the founders faced 250 years ago.

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Episode Two: Expansive Temperance with Benjamin Franklin

Jeffrey Rosen speaks with Franklin scholar Stacy Schiff about why he put temperance first on his list of virtues. Then, Ken Burns shares what he takes away from Ben Franklin’s incomplete quest for moral perfection. 

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Episode Three: Humility with John and Abigail Adams

Jeffrey Rosen speaks with political historian Lindsay Chervinsky and Ken Burns on how John and Abigail supported each other through the birth of the United States. 

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Meet the Host

Jeffrey Rosen

Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution.

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Podcast

We The People

A weekly show of constitutional debate hosted by National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen where listeners can hear the best arguments on all sides of the constitutional issues at the center of American life.

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America at 250 Civic Toolkit

The toolkit brings to life the Declaration, the Constitution, and enduring principles that define America. It features America at 250 multimedia content, events, and continuously updated resources.

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