Main Point Books welcomes Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitutional Center. He’ll be discussing his new book, “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”
This event is free; reservations via Eventbrite are highly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome as room permits. The event will happen in our lower-level event space. Signed books are available for purchase via Eventbrite or the store’s website, and can be ... view more »
Main Point Books welcomes Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitutional Center. He’ll be discussing his new book, “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”
This event is free; reservations via Eventbrite are highly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome as room permits. The event will happen in our lower-level event space. Signed books are available for purchase via Eventbrite or the store’s website, and can be picked up at the event, at the store, or mailed anywhere within the U.S.
About The Book
A fascinating examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy.The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives.By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen shows us how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good—the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. Among those virtues were the habits of industry, temperance, moderation, and sincerity, which the Founders viewed as part of a daily struggle for self-improvement, character development, and calm self-mastery. They believed that political self-government required personal self-government. For all six Founders, the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with enslavement of African Americans, although the Virginians betrayed their own principles.The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy.
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