One way Americans pursue happiness is by physically moving. Indeed, ours is a nation founded on restlessness. What were the pilgrims if not hedonic refugees, searching for happiness someplace else? And what is our much-heralded “frontier spirit” if not a yearning for a happier place? “In America, getting on in the world means getting out of the world we have known before,” wrote the editor and teacher Ellery Sedgwick in his autobiography, The Happy Profession.
