Hi Ostlandr! I don't think that's a legend. The Framers — and especially Thomas Jefferson — were very heavy borrowers from John Locke who was the "father of the Glorious Revolution of 1688" as mentioned in the article at the top of this thread. Locke was a philosopher of the natural law/natural rights school. And he had seemingly concluded that inalienable rights can inhere in man only if they are endowed by a Higher Authority (so to speak). His three main inalienable rights were life, liberty, and property.
Now Thomas Jefferson was a close student of Locke. He knew everything that Locke had to say about natural law and the inalienable rights of persons. Although Locke's list survived verbatim through the first few drafts of the Declaration of Independence (co-authored by Franklin and Jay -- until those two worthy gentlemen realized that TJ was "on a tear," and so delicately withdrew into the background), Jefferson decided in the end (for whatever reason) to replace "property" with "the pursuit of happiness."
Personally, I am clueless why he would want to do that. "Property" is "concrete," tangible; and thus readily understandable by virtually everybody.
But "whut the hay" is "happiness?" You simply cannot quantify it. It might as well be a total illusion, or a chimera or unicorn flitting about. It means something different to every single human person in existence.
Truly I find Jefferson most perplexing on this point (and on some others as well). And so I gather: Not for nothing has he been called "The American Sphinx."
Thank you so much for writing, Ostlandr!
Ah,but is it? If the word "property" can be defined as a physical item, or items, with a verifiable market value that can be legally bought,sold, acquired, held in trust, or inherited then comes the question --- Are human beings property?
If so, then the original wording of the Declaration of Independence reading ". . . life, liberty and property" could very well have been interpreted as approving the "peculiar institution" of Slavery.
And, as we all know, Jefferson -- among many members of the Constitutional Convention -- was a slaveholder; albeit many were not, and some among them were firm abolitionists.
He changed property to happiness as we had indentured servants, convicts, who could or could not own property depending on the state, and the great unwashed, uneducated tradesmen and day laborers.
Owning property was not a right, but a privilege that allowed you to vote in the general elections at all levels.
Thomas Jefferson,Writings,Merrill D.Peterson Editor,Library
of America 16th printing p19-25 records the Declaration of
Independence and how it was amended,John Eidsmoe in Christianity and the Constitution does a fair job discussing Jefferson and introducing his association with John Locke.IMO It remains an open question as to why Jefferson changed the concept presented by Locke-as I have
read in Lockes treatise on government the link Life -Liberty -and Property.--But find no original from Jefferson
beyond that which was approved and reported to Congress.
I read the article last night and was just fixing to post some research sources for the correspondents – when, poof, we lost electricity. There’ll be thunderstorms in the area today, too – so it may be touch-and-go for me. LOL!
Anyway, here is an exhaustive list of links to the various documents which were significant to the framers from 500 B.C. to 1800 A.D. – with a few of the ones previously discussed highlighted:
Institutes of Christian Religion - John Calvin (1540). Calvin's magnum opus.
The most celebrated American historian, George Bancroft, called Calvin "the father of America," and added: "He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty." To John Calvin and the Genevan theologians, President John Adams credited a great deal of the impetus for religious liberty (Adams, WORKS, VI:313). This document includes a justification for rebellion to tyrants by subordinate government officials; this particular justification was at the root of the Dutch, English, and American Revolutions.
Constitution of the Iroquois Nations
The Virginia Declaration of Rights (Mason, 1776)