What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character
This course invites learners of all ages to explore what early American leaders meant by happiness and why they believed it was essential to both a good life and a strong constitutional democracy. Drawing on ideas from ancient history, the Enlightenment, and the lives of the Founders themselves, this course examines how happiness was understood not as comfort or pleasure, but as building character, making ethical choices, and taking responsibility for oneself and one’s community.
Quick facts
On-demand
Cost: Free
Total modules: 12
Time:Self-paced
Optional certificate
What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character
This course invites learners of all ages to explore what early American leaders meant by happiness and why they believed it was essential to both a good life and a strong constitutional democracy. Drawing on ideas from ancient history, the Enlightenment, and the lives of the Founders themselves, this course examines how happiness was understood not as comfort or pleasure, but as building character, making ethical choices, and taking responsibility for oneself and one’s community.
Quick facts
On-demand
Cost: Free
Total modules: 12
Time:Self-paced
Optional certificate
Created in partnership with the National Constitution Center
This course is based on The Pursuit of Happiness, written by Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center. It combines Arizona State University’s Principled Innovation framework with the National Constitution Center’s deep scholarly expertise and longstanding commitment to constitutional and civic education. Together, these perspectives equip learners of all ages with a richer understanding of American history and the enduring values necessary to sustain a constitutional democracy.
This course is based on The Pursuit of Happiness, written by Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center. It integrates ASU’s Practice Principled Innovation with the center’s constitutional scholarship to examine the civic ideals that inform American democracy.
A guided exploration of happiness, virtue, and democracy
What does it mean to live a virtuous life in a free society? This course invites learners to explore happiness not as the personal pursuit of feeling good but as an idea closely tied to character, civic responsibility, leadership, and participation in a constitutional democracy. At this heart of this is the belief that self-government begins with the government of the self.
What does it mean to live a virtuous life in a free society? This course invites learners to explore happiness not as the personal pursuit of feeling good but as an idea closely tied to character, civic responsibility, leadership, and participation in a constitutional democracy. At this heart of this is the belief that self-government begins with the government of the self.
Through letters, speeches, essays, and stories from the founding era, learners see how key figures in American history understood happiness as the cultivation of virtue and self-mastery, and how they wrestled– often imperfectly– with questions of moral judgment in both public and private life.
By engaging with these historical examples, learners consider how ideas about character, leadership, moral responsibility, and civic duty shaped the American experiment in self-government and continue to resonate in our civic life today.
12 Self-Paced Modules
Each module combines primary source texts, interpretive essays, and guided inquiryreflection to support reflection on how ideas from the past can inform judgment, responsibility, and participation in a constitutional democracy today, including:
- What does it mean to pursue happiness in a society shaped by competing values and interests?
- How should character and virtue shape leadership, citizenship, and public decision-making?
- What responsibilities accompany individual freedom in a democratic society?
- How can virtue formation, historical understanding, and self government strengthen civil dialogue and civic life, rather than deepen polarization?
Module 1
The virtuous citizen and the virtuous nation
This module introduces the Founders’ understanding of happiness as rooted in virtue and self-mastery rather than pleasure. Learners examine why personal self-government was seen as essential to sustaining a free and self-governing society.
Module 2
Twelve Virtues and the Pursuit of Happiness
This module examines Benjamin Franklin’s twelve virtues as a disciplined framework for personal moral development. Learners consider how order in personal life was understood as foundational to civic responsibility and public trust.
Module 3
Ben Franklin’s Quest for Moral Perfection
This module explores temperance as a practice of moderating desire rather than eliminating it. Learners reflect on both the aspirations and the limitations of Franklin’s pursuit of moral perfection.
Module 4
John and Abigail Adams’ Self-Accounting
This module focuses on humility as an ongoing practice sustained by reflection and relationships. Learners explore how self-accounting helped temper ambition and support moral growth over time.
Module 5
Thomas Jefferson’s Reading List
This module examines industry as intellectual discipline and sustained self-education. Learners consider how Jefferson linked lifelong learning to informed judgment and responsible civic participation.
Module 6
James Wilson and George Mason’s Debts
This module explores frugality as both personal and public virtue. Learners analyze how failures of financial self-governance undermine moral authority and public trust.
Module 7
Phillis Wheatley and the Enslavers’ Avarice
This module examines sincerity through Wheatley’s moral witness and critique of slavery. Learners confront the tension between professed ideals and lived practices in the Founding era.
Module 8
George Washington’s Self-Command
This module explores resolution as emotional discipline in leadership. Learners examine how Washington’s self-command shaped his responses to crisis,responsibility, and power.
Module 9
Madison and Hamilton’s Constitution
This module examines moderation as a guiding principle of constitutional design. Learners explore how institutional structures were intended to manage human passions while preserving liberty.
Module 10
Tranquility — Adams and Jefferson’s Reconciliation
This module presents tranquility as a mature virtue shaped by reflection and restraint. Learners examine how reconciliation can emerge from humility, forgiveness, and perspective over time.
Module 11
John Quincy Adams’ Composure
This module explores cleanliness as inner composure supported by discipline and routine. Learners reflect on the challenge of sustaining moral steadiness under sustained public scrutiny.
Module 12
Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln’s Self-Reliance
This module examines justice as a demanding civic virtue grounded in moral courage and self-reliance. Learners consider how Douglass and Lincoln called the nation to confront its contradictions and live up to its stated ideals.
About the National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center is America’s leading platform for nonpartisan constitutional education and civil dialogue. We bring together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. The Center fulfills its congressional charter “to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis in order to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.” Explore more resources from the National Constitution Center, including a Constitution 101 free self-guided course, at: constitutioncenter.org