Civics question 11 of 128
The words "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" are in what founding document?
Official answer
- Declaration of Independence
Source: official USCIS question list for the 2025 version of the civics test. This site is independent and not affiliated with USCIS.
Background
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness appear in the Declaration of Independence, in its second sentence. The full passage says that people are endowed with certain unalienable rights and that among these are those three. Unalienable means the rights cannot be surrendered or taken away, which is why the sentence is quoted so often in later arguments about who counts as included. Jefferson adapted the phrasing from the philosopher John Locke, who had written of life, liberty, and property; the shift to the pursuit of happiness broadened the claim beyond ownership. The words are not in the Constitution, which is the most common wrong answer. The Constitution speaks of liberty in its preamble and protects life, liberty, and property through the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
This background section is written by US Citizenship Test Practice to explain the civics fact. It is not part of the USCIS question list, and the official answer above is the one to give at the interview.
Where this question sits
It is part of Principles of American Government, inside the American Government section of the test.