Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 250 Years of the Declaration of Independence

""At this very time, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but SCOTCH and foreign Mercenaries to invade and deluge us in blood." -From Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration of Independence

In this episode, we survey the history and importance of Scotland and Scottish people in Revolutionary America.

Topics include:

-anti-Scottish sentiment in the Colonies, particularly among Southern planters, like Jefferson, who were indebted to Scottish tobacco traders

-the origins of the "Pursuit of Happiness" in the Scottish Enlightenment

-explanations of Scots and the Scotch-Irish

-push and pull factors driving...

“The Mexican Nation, which for three hundred years has not had its own will, nor the free use of its voice, rises today from the oppression in which it has lived… [The Mexican Nation] solemnly declares, through its Supreme Junta of the Empire, that it is a Sovereign Nation and independent from old Spain, with which, in the future, it will not maintain another union but that of a close friendship, in the terms prescribed by international treaties…”

-Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (1821)

In today's episode, we explore the actual and perceived influence of the American Revolution...

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

In this episode, we discuss the historical and philosophical origins of the Declaration of Independence.

Topics include:

-an explanation of the importance of John Locke, natural rights, and natural...

"Happiness" is mentioned twice in the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, but what does it mean?

In this episode, Prof. Darrin McMahon, best-selling author of _Happiness: A History_, outlines the history of happiness and its various meanings.

Topics include:

-the history of the word in English and other languages

-happiness in the classical Greek and Roman philosophical traditions

-happiness in the Judeo-Christian and Buddhist traditions

-Enlightenment concepts of human happiness from thinkers like John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, William Blackstone, and Isaac Newton

-the opposition between happiness and suffering in the Declaration

-happiness in the Epicurean and Stoic traditions...