In 1776, three texts appeared almost simultaneously that helped define the political and moral architecture of the modern world.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense gave popular voice to the radical idea that political authority must rest on reason and consent rather than tradition. Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations provided a systematic account of how prosperity emerges from freedom, specialization, and exchange. And the Declaration of Independence articulated, with unprecedented clarity, the proposition that individuals possess inalienable rights – and that the legitimacy of government derives from its role in securing “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Two hundred and fifty years later, these works remain foundational, not as relics of Enlightenment optimism, but as living texts whose questions are still unresolved.
Our think tank will commemorate this semiquincentennial (a new word we all just learned) under the banner “250 Years of the Pursuit of Happiness”, emphasizing not nostalgia but continuity and contestation. These works were not unanimous manifestos; they argued with their time and provoked resistance. Common Sense challenged monarchy and inherited hierarchy, The Wealth of Nations (which our Institute publishes regularly in Czech translation) confronted mercantilism and economic privilege, and the Declaration boldly asserted universal principles in a world that scarcely practiced them. Their power lay precisely in this tension between ideals and reality – a tension that remains central to contemporary debates about democracy, markets, and individual freedom.
From the Czech perspective, this anniversary carries particular resonance. Our historical experience reminds us that freedom is neither automatic nor permanent, that prosperity can be distorted by power, and that rights require institutions and civic culture to endure. The Enlightenment ideas articulated in 1776 crossed the Atlantic and, over time, helped shape European liberalism, constitutionalism, and economic reform –even if their realization was repeatedly delayed or denied in our region.
According to our late friend David Boaz, the Declaration of Independence is “the most eloquent piece of liberal or libertarian writing ever”. The Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence (better known in our country as the Washington Declaration) of 1918 was influenced by it:
“We reject the sacrilegious assertion that the power of the Habsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties is of divine origin; we refuse to recognize the divine right of kings. Our nation elected the Habsburgs to the throne of Bohemia of its own free will, and by the same right deposes them.”
Through public discussions, essays, and policy reflections, our commemoration will explore what the pursuit of happiness means in the twenty-first century: under conditions of geopolitical instability, technological transformation, and renewed skepticism toward liberal democracy. By revisiting these three texts together, we aim to reaffirm a shared intellectual inheritance while subjecting it to critical scrutiny. The goal is not to canonize 1776, but to ask – honestly and rigorously – how its ideas can still guide societies that wish to remain free, prosperous, and responsible to their citizens.
(Picture generated by Gemini)
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