In Order to Be Happy
Explore what “pursuit of happiness” meant to America’s Founders
Follow Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide To Happiness on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
The “pursuit of happiness” is one of the most famous phrases in American history, and when America’s founders wrote it in the Declaration of Independence, they intended it to mean happiness through lifelong learning and self-improvement.
To start our series, Jeffrey Rosen and scholar Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, trace how the meaning of pursuit of happiness has changed. Then, American filmmaker Ken Burns shares how — even as he has spent his “entire life trying to figure out the United States” — daily self-reflection has given him new perspectives on what the founders faced 250 years ago.
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Credits
Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide To Happiness is produced by PRX Productions for the National Constitution Center. It is made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.
Episode 1, In Order to Be Happy is hosted by Jeffrey Rosen, featuring Robert P. George and Ken Burns with voice acting by Courtney Fleurantin and Charlie Warren
© 2025 National Constitution Center. All Rights Reserved.
From PRX Productions: Genevieve Sponsler, Courtney Fleurantin, David Newtown, Sandra Lopez-Monsalve, and Jocelyn Gonzalez
From the National Constitution Center: Annie Stone, Griffin Richie, and Bill Pollock
"The Golden Mean: Songs for the Pursuit of Happiness" by Jeffrey Rosen. Arrangements by Greg Strohman. Featuring James Martin, Jennifer Blyth, and Greg Strohman.
© ℗ 2025 Jeffrey Rosen. All Rights Reserved.
America at 250 Civic Toolkit
The revolutionary ideas of 1776 laid the foundation for America's story - chapters that continue to shape our nation today. This toolkit gives you everything you need to explore the founding documents and the enduring vision they set in motion.
