Life, liberty, and the pursuit of historical geography

Richard H. Schein offers his views on the topic of life, liberty, and the pursuit of historical geography. There is debate over the apocryphal origins of Jefferson's substitution, and exactly what he meant by it; or at least what was understood by the phrase when it first was enshrined in the Declaration. Carol Hamilton's tracings of that substitution and its meanings contextualized in Enlightenment thought broadly considered are useful for helping historians to move toward the ultimate lesson that 'happiness' is open for interpretation. The NPR report included a sound bite from a Penn State professor who referred to the difficulty even today of inserting slavery into discussions of the Civil War. A couple of tourists were also interviewed: one a kindergarten teacher from the Delta who came for the nice people and the fun time, and the others a retired couple from North Carolina who consciously avoided the celebration on their tour of Civil War sites because they felt the commemoration would be offensive to some and probably not appropriate.