By James Nickolas

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 (United States Declaration of Independence).

With these powerful words, the American Colonies announced to the world what we, as Americans, believe. And our Founders began our nation on a new and unique course in human affairs. But where do you as a University student see yourself with respect to our founding documents? What life are you charting for yourself as you toil to meet your academic and social demands? In other words, how will you pursue Happiness?

The land of opportunity that you live in today did not always exist. This is true regardless of your race, religion, sex or ethnic background. The ideals our Founders captured within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution evolved over two millennia. Blending the reason which fueled the age of enlightenment, with the wisdom of classical Greece and Rome, the Founders who crafted our form of government asked the questions which all great societies seek to answer. Is man good or evil by nature? Should a person’s actions be based on the will of the majority or on the inner voice of conscience? When must one trump the other? What is the highest good?

You could graduate from the University with honors, fully prepared to secure your fortune in today’s world, yet remain uneducated. Why? If you graduate ignorant of the world’s great ideas, you will have failed to acquire a true liberal education, as defined by the father of liberal education, Aristotle. But more importantly, you will depart ignorant of many of the ideals which underpin the founding of our nation. And without that understanding, fail to comprehend the true majesty crafted by our Founders and encased in our founding documents.

Is man good or evil by nature? Your answer to that question influences how you conduct yourself on campus every day; the Founders’ answer influenced the final form of our government. The Articles of Confederation would rely upon an individual’s good nature to govern the fledging nation. Within only a few years, however, the Founders realized the new nation would sink into chaos without fine tuning the form of government required to secure our unalienable rights. The new mixed and balanced constitution recognized the corrupting influence of unchecked power, while maintaining a positive outlook toward man’s nature. The new constitution more closely integrated lessons derived from the Founders’ own English past with those from the democracy of Greece and the republic of Rome, but without the over dependence on civic virtue which led those ancient societies astray.

What is the purpose or goal of life? Again, your answer to that question influences how you conduct yourself on campus every day; just as the Founders’ answer influenced the character of our nation. Following the logic of the enlightenment thinkers, the unalienable rights articulated in the original draft of the Declaration were life, liberty and property, not Happiness. But the Founders deliberately replaced this more materialistic end with a more virtuous and universal one. Although the security of property proved a critical right in the evolution of English common law and Social Contract theory, the pursuit of Happiness involves the fulfillment of a person’s deepest desires.

The nature of man, the purpose of life, the role of civic virtue, without an ability to enter the great conversation about these ideas, you may depart the University with a diploma, but without obtaining an education. Without an understanding of these great ideas, you may call yourself an American, but fail to understand the true genesis and magnificent genius of your country. Without an understanding of these great ideas, and their influence on the Founders, you may be a citizen of this great nation, but remain ignorant of your civic responsibilities.

Learn to ask the great questions. Go beyond any short-sighted materialist goal. The history of our nation is a living testament to the power of these greatest of ideas. As you enter the great conversation in earnest, you may discover your responsibilities along with your rights. Like our Founders you may discover that most uncomfortable of truths — that every privilege comes joined at the hip without hope of severance to a concomitant obligation impossible to dodge. Like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, or many other patriots of 1776 you may stand astounded in self-discovery that the flip side of easeful comfort is the itch of duty. And that, for all our checks and balances, it is only civic virtue which propels an individual to stand at the sharp and dirty end where, ultimately, freedom is defended.