The comma immediately preceding a coordinating conjunction in a list of three or more items is called a serial (or Oxford) comma. It's a matter of style. Some style guides mandate its use... most notably Oxford, I guess. Other guides differ. Seems most English teachers press their opinions on this and other matters of style as hard and fast rules because they're morons.

So, as I was typing and I got to the part where it was going into life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... I thought I could sneak a peak at who it was that was being quoted while I typed a few words. Unfortunately, I typed life, liberty and ... without the comma after liberty, which messed me up. At first I thought, I should edit out that comma, but then I thought that maybe that was the way it read, and the comma there was correct back then. So.... I googled up some pictures and while it seems the constitution images do not have the comma, I noticed pictures of Jefferson's draft have it as life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness. Fascinating.

Estelle, you make some good points; i.e. our 'white ancestors' is not one of them, though.

Because he had lived a life as everyone else has, and he knows that happiness isn't something that can be attained and kept forever, it is something that you have to chase down and cherish it until it runs away, leaving you chasing for it again so that you can capture it maybe just one more time. True happiness, at least, seems to be this way.

In my opinion, "Life, liberty, and the 'pusuit' of happiness", was written by the Framers- i.e. our 'white ancestors'. It is not something that you must pursue if you are a religious person, such as myself, I am a Christian Moderate. However, if you fail to find a higher power, or something you can believe in that is greater than yourself, then you ulitimately fail to find meaning in your life; I'm not trying to single you out. Moving forward into the future, as I was explaining, you fail to find meaning in your own life; then you shall die in an absurd way. Resources and Credit to: Albert Camus: Who is one of the most beautifully written published authors and philosophers of all time. Trust me, it is very easy to read and He can point you in the right direction by proviging some useful insight pertaining to your unique situation. 8)