It means, in the second place, that this shall be an
agreeable country to live in, by reason of its impartial laws, social
amenities, and a fair chance to enjoy the gifts of nature and Providence.
And it means, again, the opportunity to develop talents, aptitudes for
cultivation and enjoyment, in short, freedom to make the most possible
out of our lives. This is what Jefferson meant by the "pursuit of
happiness"; it was what the Constitution meant by the "general welfare,"
and what it tried to secure in States, safe-guarded enough to secure
independence in the play of local ambition and home rule, and in a
federal republic strong enough to protect the whole from foreign
interference. We are in no vain chase of an equality which would
eliminate all individual initiative, and check all progress, by ignoring
differences of capacity and strength, and rating muscles equal to brains.
But we are in pursuit of equal laws, and a fairer chance of leading happy
lives than humanity in general ever had yet. And this fairer chance would
not, for instance, permit any man to become a millionaire by so
manipulating railways that the subscribing towns and private stockholders
should lose their investments; nor would it assume that any Gentile or
Jew has the right to grow rich by the chance of compelling poor women to
make shirts for six cents apiece.
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