Since the beginning of the modern democratic project, in the founding documents of the United States of America, the "pursuit of happiness” aimed at the economic dimension of being a citizen. Being enabled and encouraged to use the “god given” gifts each person has becomes a core tenet of democracy. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution the “social question” was raised as more and more people lived in miserable conditions and were prevented from leading a self-determined life. Providing guardrails that reflected the claim of democracy to give fair access to everybody to society and its means became a feature of democratic lawmaking henceforth.
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