Happiness

“What did people mean by happiness in the 18th century? They meant “public happiness”. What they meant by public happiness, was every citizen, thinking of the larger good, thinking of society, thinking of the structures of government that would create a society that was peaceful, and that would allow as many people as possible to flourish. They saw that private happiness is only to be achieved after we had achieved public happiness.”

— Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments