The term was
first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which
was written in 1931. He states: "The American Dream is "that dream of
a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with
opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult
dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of
us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor
cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and
each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are
innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of
the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (p.214-215)
In the
United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers: "…held
certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Might this sentiment be
considered the foundation of the American Dream?
Were
homesteaders who left the big cities of the east to find happiness and their
piece of land in the unknown wilderness pursuing these inalienable Rights? Were
the immigrants who came to the United States looking for their bit of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their Dream? And what did the desire of
the veteran of World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a
family - tell us about this evolving Dream? Is the American Dream attainable by
all Americans? Would Martin Luther King feel his Dream was attained? Did
Malcolm X realize his Dream?
Some say,
that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that
people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of
prosperity for their families - but have less time to enjoy their prosperity.
Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who
must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a
new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on
living a simple, fulfilling life.
Thomas Wolfe
said, "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden
opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever
thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him."
Source: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/97/dream/thedream.html