ASU and National Constitution Center Launch Free Online Course Exploring Happiness, Virtue and the American Founding

Arizona State University has partnered with the National Constitution Center to launch a new free online course examining how the Founders of the United States understood happiness, virtue and the responsibilities of citizenship.

What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character is a self-paced, non-credit learning experience built around close readings of founding-era texts and historical case studies.

The course was developed in collaboration with ASU’s Practice Principled Innovation, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and ASU EdPlus, and is designed for educators, students and lifelong learners interested in constitutional history, civic virtue and the enduring question of what it means to pursue happiness in a democracy. ​

Courses grounded in Principled Innovation are developed in collaboration with partners across ASU and beyond, bringing character-centered approaches to real social challenges.

“At ASU, Principled Innovation guides how we design learning experiences that connect knowledge with responsibility,” said Ted Cross, assistant vice president, Principled Innovation. “This course reflects ASU’s commitment to expanding access to high-quality education while encouraging learners to reflect on character, civic responsibility and the values that shape a democratic society.”

PI courses create space for thoughtful engagement with complex, real-world challenges and encourage meaningful dialogue across different perspectives when ethical decisions have no easy answers.

Through guided readings, multimedia content and reflective prompts, the course encourages learners to examine how the founders’ ideas about virtue and self-government continue to shape democratic participation today.

“This course, based on my book The Pursuit of Happiness, invites learners into the moral vision of the American founding, with its emphasis on character, virtue, and self-government," said Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center CEO Emeritus.

Each module focuses on a classical virtue, including humility, temperance, resolution and justice, illustrated through the lives of figures such as George Washington, Phillis Wheatley, Abigail and John Adams, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

"Through sustained, close reading of the founders’ own words, together with the classical and Enlightenment texts that shaped their personal and political thinking, the course explores why the founders believed that personal self-government was necessary for political self-government,” Rosen said. “My mission at the NCC has been to create opportunities for deep, text-based reading and lifelong constitutional learning and I hope this course inspires people to slow down, read closely and continue to learn and grow.”

Open to the public with no registration required, the flexible, self-paced learning experience is hosted on the National Constitution Center’s website and delivered through ASU’s Articulate Rise platform, with an optional digital credential of completion available to learners.

To explore the course and examine enduring ideas that continue to inform democratic participation, visit ASU Practice Principled Innovation, and explore more resources from the National Constitution Center, including a Constitution 101 free self-guided course, at constitutioncenter.org.