The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (Jeffrey Rosen)

Along with life and liberty, the Declaration of Independence mentions "the pursuit of happiness" as an unalienable right. What this phrase means has changed over time. In the early days of America, the Founding Fathers meant for the pursuit of happiness to be a pursuit of virtue -- of being good and and doing virtuous work by bettering yourself with knowledge. In The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, author Jeffrey Rosen profiles six of American's most influential founders.

The six men profiled (Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton) all had varied lives and a tremendous impact on America's beginnings. Each valued industry, self-control, moderation, and sincerity and strove (and failed) to secure moral perfection. Jefferson and Adams kept vast diaries and piles of correspondence. Washington strove to lead a regimented, disciplined life and control a temper that only rarely got the best of him. 

The pursuit of virtue and self-betterment from our Founding Fathers was a bit hypocritical given a number of them owned slaves. While they also knew that the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with enslavement, many couldn't or wouldn't take the step to emancipate their slaves. Rosen does talk about the evolution of John Quincy Adams, John's son, in becoming a fervent abolitionist in his post-presidency as his virtuous pursuit.

Rosen effectively interweaves these stories of the pursuit of virtue and self improvement with our modern day worship of social media, influencer culture, and tweets, showing that what the Founders thought of as happiness is not how we see it today. Rosen articulates the spirit of self improvement that many early Founders strove for, despite their flaws and sins, and that they perhaps were better at maintaining a spirit of mindfulness that many of us could learn from in today's tweeting. TikToking world. The idea that we should take a step back and think before we speak, tweet, or TikTok is something that every Founder would consider a virtuous and wise move.

MY RATING: 4

The First Congress (Fergus M. Bordewich)

Fergus M. Bordewich’s The First Congress details the initial two year period of American government after the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.  The book is rapidly paced and chronicles the work that The Founding Fathers undertook in creating, framing, and shaping the three branches of American government.

Given the political gridlock that dominates 2016’s politick, the amount of legislation and debate that the 95 Senators and Representatives undertook is breathtaking -- establishing a national capital city, a national bank, and the judiciary; approving George Washington’s first cabinet appointments; and developing a framework to repay debts incurred during the American Revolution.  This was all accomplished in an era without political parties, with some of the legislators undertaking their own political evolutions during the first two years in response to their shifting thinking or adjusting to the will of their constituents.

Bordewich gives considerable depth to the emerging relationship between Congress and the Presidency and the internal debates that made up the First Congress.  Many of those debates are still raging today with regards to the role of the federal government versus that of the states and various other interpretations of the Constitution.  He also spends time discussing the role of the first lobbyists and how their “taking up petitions” created the divisions that would ultimately lead to partisanship and increasing divides in our country in subsequent decades.

Any civics student, historian, or aspiring politician should read this book as it hearkens back to an era where our elected officials were able to accomplish much in a short amount of time.

MY RATING - 4