One of the most precious liberties Americans have always cherished is the ability to "e;make something of themselves"e;--to choose not only an occupation but an identity. Examining works by Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and others, Daniel Walker Howe investigates how Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries engaged in the process of "e;self-construction,"e; "e;self-improvement,"e; and the "e;pursuit of happiness."e;.