5/24/2023 0 Comments Life liberty pursuit of happiness![]() ![]() On the other hand, when Leo XIII set down the foundational principles of Catholic social doctrine in Rerum Novarum (1891), he begins with and gives most of his attention to a defense of the natural right to private property. It has puzzled historians since 1776 that Jefferson replaced the third of these with the odd-sounding “pursuit of happiness.” This formula was something of a mantra, used by pastors and pamphleteers. You may know from American history that the triad of natural rights most frequently cited among the colonists was, rather, life, liberty, and property. ![]() ![]() When Jefferson had his chance to state the foundational principles of American self-government, he wrote: “all men are created equal, are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I like to tell my students that Pope Leo XIII was more American than Thomas Jefferson.
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