By 
Caroline Winterer
 | 
TEDx Talk

America's pursuit of happiness and why it's gone wrong

We are so preoccupied with happiness that the Declaration of Independence guarantees our right to pursue it. But are we doing it right? Historian Caroline Winterer argues that what the founding fathers meant was public happiness, the need for citizens to work collectively toward a robust democracy. "Only public happiness," she explains, "creates the umbrella of stability under which we can pursue private happiness."

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