Self Evident Truths, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

By Conrad E. Dandridge

A paper written in December 1998 that looked at where our country has come from and where it is going.

I believe that we, as individuals and as a nation, have accomplished two-thirds of our task given to us by the Declaration of Independence. In our first century of existence we have guaranteed Life. During our second century, Liberty (political freedom) has been insured. Now as we move into the third century of our existence we face the final and toughest task, the Pursuit of Happiness. I will examine our American history and the meeting of each of these unalienable rights in turn, Life then Liberty along with our first 200 years of our history. Finally, I will look at the near distant past, our present and into the future to see if we can guarantee the right of the Pursuit of Happiness in our third century of existence.

The Declaration of Independence was just the beginning, six long years of fighting to gain our independence from Great Britain, two more years making peace and four years trying to make "popular sovereign" a reality. The Articles of Confederation were a failure! The issues of slavery and religion were beginning to grow into dividing issues. In 1787, 11 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the second great American document was written. The Constitution of the United States, which was followed by the third great American document in 1791, the Bill of Rights. Thus our current form and system of government was created. Religion was to be separate from the state, but what of slavery? The life of the American nation had started, to be watched over for its first 20 years by George Washington, the father of our nation and "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen". But in 1797, we still had a long way to go.

The first threat that we faced were the creation of political parties and factions internally and foreign powers externally. Washington in his farewell Address had warned us about both of these two issues. The political struggle between the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson ended with the election of Jefferson as president in 1800. 1803 was a very important year for our young nation, Jefferson sought to keep the French out of North America and the British at bay, all while trying to deal effectively with the Barbary States of North Africa with our new navy & the USS Constitution. He used his power as president to double the size of the United States with Louisiana Purchase from France. Also the Supreme Court (Judicial Branch) under Chief Justice John Marshall established the power of Judicial review with it's decision in Marbury vs. Madison. As a note of interest it is also under Jefferson that impeachment is used for the first time, successfully against Judge J. Pickering and unsuccessfully as a political tool/weapon against Chief Justice Samuel Chase. In 1804, Alexander Hamilton was killed after exposing a secessionist plot by some northern states and involving Vice President Aaron Burr and others. This was the first of four secessionist threats, all based upon the notion of state's rights and sovereignty. Next came the War of 1812, which was not only unnecessary but also very dangerous for a young America. It did accomplish three important things; 1) it showed that the United States was here to stay and was a force to reckoned with, 2) provided that future disputes with Great Britain would settled by negotiations not force and 3) introduced Andrew Jackson to the Nation as a Military Hero. In 1814, a second attempt at secession was made by some northern states at the Hartford Convention, it to failed with bad results for its leaders. In 1808, the slave trade with Africa was ended. But slavery not only continued in the southern US but flourished and expanded with coming of cotton. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise. the first of many compromises, was agreed upon in hopes of keeping the issues of slavery quiet. Also Native Americans were being displaced forcibly from their tribal lands to the newly formed Indian Territory.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president and the new Democratic Party took power. By this time the right to vote had been given to almost all white males with or without property. Jackson was the last president born before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the first political outsider from political aristocracy <Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe & J.Q. Adams>. Jackson had actually won the 1824 election, but lost it in the House of Representatives since he did not have a majority of electors, "the corrupt bargain". Jackson as president created the "spoils systems" of political appointments, he ended the national bank (for which he was censured by congress, 1st time), and forcibly dealt with South Carolina's threat to secede under the notion of nullification. 61 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1836, Andrew Jackson left office. He left the Presidency, the Federal government and the nation stronger than when he had arrived. This new strength allowed for westward expansion to the Pacific Ocean and conflict with Mexico. A new nation having gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico tried to keep the United States from taking over her territory, first in Texas and then in California.

In 1837, the first economic depression hit the United States and a new political party came to life, the Whigs. In 1840, William Harrison a Whig, the second political outsider, third military hero, was elected president. Then Harrison died, the first president to do so in office, and was succeeded by his Vice President John Tyler. It is important to note than during the 1830's and 1840's the women's movement and anti-slavery movement were active and growing. The nation had grown form east to west, but it was also growing apart north and south. The War with Mexico during 1846-47 did not pull the nation together, it did end the economic depression. But it started the United States down the short path to civil war very quickly. California and the Compromise of 1850, the end of the Whig party, the birth of our fifth and last major political party the New Republican party. By the mid 1850's slavery had become the important issue in America. The Nation's boundaries with Canada and Mexico were set, as they exist today. In 1854, we had "opened" up Japan. But the life of the nation hung on the major issue left from our earliest days, life, equality and slavery? We were divided, and as Abraham Lincoln the new incoming Republican President had said that "a house divided can not stand". His election began the secession of the southern states and thus the Civil War.

The Civil War 1861-1865, proved that our nation would live. The election of 1864 took place even though we were divided and still fighting. Then Lincoln is assassinated shocking the entire nation. With the end of the Civil War, the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and the end of Reconstruction, our nation's and political systems' life was guaranteed and affirmed. The language in our laws, like the 14th amendment, was different, All Persons are citizens of the United States. It was true that Lincoln and all other Americans had not died in vain for our great nation, for it had attained life for itself and its people. By the end of 1877, we had lived up to the words of Lincoln spoken at Gettysburg in 1863 "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shalt not perish". The right of life for most Americans now, blacks, women and most immigrants had been met and accomplished. We still needed to maintain it and to insure that it was true for all Americans, including all immigrants and native Americans.

As we approached our centennial in 1876, the issue of liberty (political freedom) would now come to the forefront. Political freedom is what Jefferson meant when he used the word liberty. All Americans had the right of political freedom, the freedom to vote, to choose their political beliefs and to make the decision to disagree on matters of policy. In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant used the words "Let us have Peace". He was trying to start the process of national healing. Grant as president found that running the nation was much harder than fighting a war. He and his presidency were victimized by corruption. When his presidency and reconstruction ended, the nations focus was no longer on slavery. It was not on political power and control, Liberty. During the period from 1877 to 1898, we saw the west tamed and the Indians nearly wiped out. It was the beginning of the American industrial revolution, started by the civil war. There was an increase in the number of immigrants coming to America, the beginning of urban society and also of more conflicts. Workers organized labor unions vs. the rich industrialists, battling for economic and political power. The Republicans and Democrats battled it out over civil service reforms, regulation of business, protection for the people. There was a new populist movement spurred on by intellectuals. We had come of age, Manifest Destiny was pushing us overseas to foreign lands and places, having started in the 1850's and now moving at full stream. It was also during this period that public education became very important. The beginning of public education for the masses including women and blacks, along the with expansion of higher educational opportunities.

American Society and individuals had the right of life guaranteed, now with an public education they wanted the right of liberty guaranteed. The killing of President James Garfield in 1881 led directly to the creation of the federal civil service. While the killing of President William McKinley led to our entry onto the world stage. Theodore Roosevelt was the perfect person and president for the nation after the turn of century, "rough and ready". For the last 50 years we had attempted to keep European Powers out of "our" hemisphere, France out of Mexico, buying Alaska from Russia, Britain out of Canada and Spain & Portugal out of Latin America. All while we moved into the Pacific and Asia. With the winning of the war with Spain and successful Open door policy in China, we appeared ready to challenge for world power. President Roosevelt embodied this image, young, powerful, educated and strong, ready to take on anyone or anything to protect or advance democracy, "we should speak softly, but carry a big stick". Roosevelt, who was the youngest president (until JFK 60 years later), did more than just increase our role overseas and in foreign matters (he won a Nobel Peace prize). He was reelected in 1904 with highest percentage of the popular vote since Andrew Jackson in 1828, as a Progressive. He took on Big Business, protected the environment, and looked out for the little person. It is not by coincidence that women were gaining suffrage and that blacks were gaining influence during this time period. But even these great movements began to split, Feminists vs. Suffragists, the followers of Booker T. Washington vs. those of W. E. B. Dubois and Taft and the Republicans vs. Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party.

"The world must be safe for Democracy". Woodrow Wilson stated as we entered the Great War, World War One, that we were doing so "as everybody's friend... to defend... the rights of all people". World War One placed us squarely on the world stage not just as a player but as a major player along with Britain and France. 60 years after trying to keep them out of our Civil War, we were finally equals with them. But even with our victory and the end of World War One, our leaders and nation seemed not to want to be involved in international affairs any more, as shown by our refusal to join the League of Nations.

We entered the 1920's as an isolationist and Xenophobic nation, and we more importantly we had become fearful and intolerant. We started attacking Communism and socialism with the red scare, immigration and immigrants with new anti-immigration laws and Blacks as they moved north, along with Catholics and Jews with the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. Our actions were threatening to undermine our civil liberties. Then came the Great Depression, followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, as President and his New Deal in 1932. Did the New Deal save us from the depression? Probably not, but it did show Americans that their government did care about them. Opponents said that it was an assault on individual liberty, because of the rapid expansion of the role of the federal government (which is still argued today). I believe that the New Deal was a continuation of T. Roosevelt's progressivism. Government was a counterbalance to the interests of corporate businesses, protecting the individual citizens in the middle. The depression and the recovery from it, was interrupted by global events again, this time World War Two.

World War Two, is one of the two historical events that continue to shape our country and world today, the other being the Civil War. The United States with the defeat of France and the conquest of Europe became the "Arsenal of Democracy". Our government did not wait to get involved this time. Pearl Harbor just pushed the rest of the nation into the war. Afterwards the United States, unlike following the last war, was ready to take her place center stage as the "leader of the free world". We had been untouched by war at home with our military and economic might intact, we became a world superpower. Following the end of World War Two, a protracted conflict with the Soviet Union became known as the Cold War. The United States became the defender of individual freedom and democracy throughout the world against communism. But the war also had a major impact on the home front, new groups of Americans had been depended on during this total war. Mainly women and blacks again, but also native Americans and Asian Americans too. These groups were not willing to give up their new roles and go back to the way to their prewar status. For the next 15 years the conflict grew quietly, until the election of John F. Kennedy and his New Frontier in 1960.

The 1960's oh what a decade! The Vietnam Conflict, the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr., the political assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert, ML King and Malcolm X, the space program and the moon walk, the counter culture vs. LBJ's Great Society, the equal rights movement and AIM, the native American movement. I could go on and on. It was the raising of social awareness or what I believe to be the realization of Liberty, political freedom. It was during the 1960's that Americans learned that it was right and okay to speak out on their political beliefs and views and to use their First Amendment rights.

Just like a century before, our nation underwent a major upheaval, not the open warfare of the Civil War and not over slavery and right of Life. This time it was some what peaceful (there was a war in Vietnam) and it was over Liberty and our right to express our political beliefs and views openly as individuals. And just with Reconstruction, again the country underwent political change, this time it was Nixon and Watergate. One could draw some parallels between the 1860's and 70's and the 1960's and 70's. Lincoln & JFK, A. Johnson & LBJ and U.S. Grant & R. Nixon. After Watergate, the people took back their Government, demanding information on what, how and why it was doing what it was doing. The so called Class of 1974 was more diverse than any other House of Representatives in History. By 1976, our nation's bicentennial we had guaranteed, met, accomplished and insured the rights of Life and Liberty for not only the majority of American citizens, but also for the nation itself and our form of government. We had made through 200 years of wars, depressions, political killings, social upheavals and much more with our belief in the words of Jefferson and Lincoln still in our hearts. Not those of President Ford in 1975, "the decline and fall of the United States of America".

President James Carter and his new human right policy (still used today), opened up our third century with one goal/right left to fulfill, the right of the Pursuit of Happiness. But what is Happiness? John Locke had written life, liberty and property in his book Two Treatise of Government. Jefferson had changed property to the pursuit of happiness. How can I or anyone else define happiness for anyone besides themselves or myself. Some would call the years following Watergate anything but happy but instead some like Ronald Reagan called it the "time of crisis for the American spirit". I think that the Carter and Reagan years were not crisis years, but time for us to stabilize our ship before heading into the "New World Order". No more Cold War vs. the Soviet Union and communism, it was time to get the world together and moving forward. So what is happiness? And how do we protect the right to pursuit it in the words of Jefferson? To me one word comes to mind, tolerance. Many of the first settlers to the New World came because of intolerance. Today, Happiness may mean social, cultural, intellectual and religious freedoms, economic independence, the ability and right to self determination and of choice. Not only for individual or America but for the world too. President George Bush was right with his term the "New World Order", but I think not in a way that he realized.

The only way to protect that right to pursue happiness is through tolerance. Look at our world today, gay bashing, immigrant bashing, attacks on different groups and cultures, blacks and ebonics, attacking Asians. The rise of the Christian right in a nation that is becoming less Christian everyday, abortion and the right to die, affirmative action and the arguments over educational curriculum. Are we becoming less tolerant or fearful of change? This is the New World, we must be tolerant, must be inclusive if we are to satisfy and guarantee our third and final unalienable right. We as a nation must secure this for ourselves and others. Look around the world, Europe, Asia and Africa and we see conflict based upon intolerance over race, religion, ethnicity, cultural differences and fear.

To achieve this final right we as individuals and as a nation must be tolerant of other. We must recognize that the words in those documents that we hold so dearly apply to all human beings, not just Americans and her friends and allies. Thanks to technology the world is a much smaller place in terms of time. No longer does information take months, weeks and days to travel, now it takes hours, minutes and seconds. The world is much more interdependent than anytime in history. But the people have not changed much. There is a document/speech that has gone unnoticed by the majority of Americans, one I feel is very important for us to read and understand in our quest to fulfill this final right. Written 202 years ago, it contains many great pieces of advice, "the disinterested warnings of a parting friend". The Farewell Address of George Washington. It is still useful and valid today as we enter the 21st Century. Those valued written documents from long ago still govern, guide and protect us. America's third century is here and the Pursuit of Happiness is still on. We may never reach happiness, but to protect our individual right to pursuit it, we must become and stay tolerant. Look no further that to Bill Clinton and issue of impeachment. Intolerance! American History, what an interesting 222 years it has been. We have had a wonderful, yet difficult journey and it is not over. Our history has been filled with ordinary yet great people and leaders in the political, social, economic and miliary worlds, heroes. Some say that at the birth of our nation we were blessed with great leaders. I say that we have always had great leaders and will have great leaders in the future. We must learn to look back at history and not judge, just learn from it.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Words written more than 220 years ago, still alive and well today. Yes, in our first two centuries, we have guaranteed the rights of Life and Liberty for most if not all American. We still must maintain and protect them for our posterity. What about the Pursuit of Happiness? We as individuals and as a nation have been after this right for very long time. And we still are chasing after it. Now we must insure that all have the opportunity to pursue happiness in what ever form it takes for each of us. This is what the American dream is. It is up to each of us as Americans to protect and defend it with tolerance against those with intolerance. If we do not do this then all that has been given and sacrificed will have been in vain. Thomas Jefferson was right when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Because these truths are self evident that we all are created equal with certain unalienable rights, Life, Liberty and most importantly the Pursuit of Happiness!

Bibliography

America's History, Volume One to 1877, Third Edition James Henrietta, W. Elliot Brownlee, David Brody, Susan Ware & Marilynn Johnson

The United States, Becoming a World Power, Volume Two, Fifth Edition Leon Litwack, Winthrop Jordan, Richard Hofstadter, William Miller & Daniel Aaron