Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Ain’t the US a great country?

Aside from my natural personal inclination towards the land of entrepreneurs and opportunities and the general knowledge of its history that one would nowadays expect everyone in western cultures to have, I never really delved into some serious research of it.

This summer I had my first experiences in this area. As part of the introductory required readings for a degree I’m pursuing, I had the pleasure of reading the book: “Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States“, by William Burnham.

This is a wonderful book that is fundamentally aimed at foreign Law students/scholars who are getting familiar with the US legal system/s. Time flied while studying this volume. I only hope I had come across it earlier.

Truth be told, this personal fascination had very much to do with my recent years addiction to the TV series ‘The West Wing’… –Arguably, in my humble opinion, one of the best shows ever… but let’s leave that for at least one different post over it…–

So, one August morning, I stumbled myself upon the US Declaration of Independence… Maybe this would be all to obvious, or at least well known by everyone, but I had never consciously apprehended the importance, candidness and beauty of the following words… in a legal text!

(…)”We hold these Truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.“

I am no Constitutional Law scholar, but I do not recall reading anything near as inspiring in any legal body that I have encountered to this date. I’m pretty sure there is no mention to happiness in the Spanish (Spain’s) Constitution.

I guess the following excerpt –this time from the US Constitution itself–, will sound more familiar… and probably more literal connections could be found in legal Magna Cartae worldwide… But kindly allow yourself a moment to briefly read it carefully:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to (…) establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.“

Ain’t the US a great country?

All the best, TFS