Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness Essay - 1

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness - Essay Example The main purpose of the research is to present that Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness is a phrase which outline and indicate the unalienable rights given to all human beings by the God and the institution of government is formed to protect those rights. Jefferson’s original draft suggests that all men are created equal and from this creation, each of them derive and inherent the right to preservation of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The overall emphasis therefore is upon creation of men as equal and from within this equality, all men have the undeniable rights to preserve the life, have liberty and pursue the happiness. While this phrase is one of the well-known phrases in the declaration however, it is argued that Jefferson was largely influenced by Locke when he decided to include this phrase in declaration. Though, the original draft of Jefferson was refined subsequently however, debate remains regarding what were the actual influences on Jefferson to include this in the original draft. One argument is based upon the assumption that Jefferson was impressed by what Locke termed as the protection of property. Locke suggested that the very purpose of political society is to actually protect the property of individuals. Property, according to Locke, comprises of life, liberty or freedom and estate. Jefferson however, replaced the word estate with the word pursuit of happiness. The right to preserve the life has liberty and pursuit of happiness therefore was the basic promise State actually made to its citizens as one of its basic duties towards citizens.