 Coming up on Open to Debate, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The phrase is etched into our collective imagination, but when it comes down to it, what does it mean to pursue happiness? Is happiness, as the founders believed, about good deeds and high moral standards? Jefferson and the other founders all defined happiness not as feeling good, but being good. The pursuit of virtue, not the pursuit of pleasure. And broadly, virtue meant self-mastery, character improvement, self-improvement.