WHAT JEFFERSON REALLY MEANT BY THE 'PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS'

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., June 22 -- William and Mary issued the following news release:

Few phrases are more closely associated with the Declaration of Independence - about to celebrate its 250th anniversary - than Thomas Jefferson's assertion that all people possess an unalienable right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Yet the phrase has often been misunderstood, according to Adam Potkay, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities at William & Mary.

"I think a lot of people think 'pursuit of happiness' is a pretty unique phrase," Potkay said, "but it means something very different today than it did at the time Jefferson wrote it."

Potkay, who has written books on the philosophical and historical antecedents of both happ...