American dream what was it

But, there are some symbols out there that are not as popular or well-known or just hard to decipher at first glance. These are the symbols that have a lot of power in a small package. The "United" States of America This essay is about the lack of connection between today's American people and their country. I touch on the lack of sense of community that we have today, the struggles we face as Americans, and the mistrust and lack of power that people often feel when they think of government.

Importance of Change The importance of change and diversity in our society. NeverAgain My piece is about how I describe my American Creed, which is by using the power of protest. My Creed This is what America means to me. Compromise My piece is an essay that talks about why we as a country have become so divided.

It talks about the causes, effects, and how we can fix this growing problem. The US can become a much better place by rehabilitating drug addicts and potentially other nonviolent offenders. My American Creed In this piece, I break apart the American Creed and go into the ideas which make it up including how we got here, how we express our American Creed, and our freedom. America American. America: Land of Inequality Since its inception, America has faced massive inequities, and even to this day, this has not changed.

The American dream is not available to everybody, and while this may sound pessimistic the fact that we have been working to change this fact gives me immense pride. American Creed My piece is about how we as a country can come together and accomplish things in the future, instead of being in a constant static state. The Future Leaders A painting depicting adults following the youth. What America Means to Me My piece is simply about how my relatives of the past struggled in their home land and moved to America despite all the difficulties and dangers they faced.

They saw America as a land of opportunity and freedom and I wrote this piece to honor them and spread their story. Gun Control Gun control is a Constitutional right that should not be taken away. Taking it away will not solve any problems and will just cause a larger black market. As American as Apple Pie As Americans, we have inherited a firearm tradition that has grown more and more at odds with modern society.

If we are to move forward as Americans, we must critically understand this aspect of our history. Homeless Inequality in America My article is about the homeless inequality or the reasons that people are homeless. Powers are derived from the consent of the governed Gun Violence in America This topic you will be reading about is about gun violence and how we can prevent mass shootings and shootings in general.

The Reality of Terrorism This piece is about how we need to stop terrorism. It is also about how to view all people equally, instead of singling them out just because they look a certain way. Starving kids and families world-wide This piece is about how their are starving children and families in america and other countries. Also it provides information on the topic that concerns why people should show more interest on kids who doesn't have enough to eat or is in poverty.

This text also contains a poem written by me, about a life of a me and my struggle with my sexuality. Gun Control If you want to be against all these mass murders read about having gun control in the United States. Pollution Isn't Real? It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and 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.

The idea of the American dream has much deeper roots. In a society based on these principles, an individual can live life to its fullest as they define it.

America also grew mostly as a nation of immigrants who created a nation where becoming an American—and passing that citizenship to your children—didn't require being the child of an American. Achieving the American dream requires political and economic freedom, as well as rules of law and private property rights. Without them, individuals cannot make the choices that will permit them to attain success, nor can they have confidence that their achievements will not be taken away from them through arbitrary force.

The American dream promises freedom and equality. The books of post-Civil War writer Horatio Alger, in which impoverished but hardworking teenage boys rise to success through pluck, determination, and good fortune , came to personify realizing the Dream. The American dream also offers the promise that the circumstances of someone's birth—including whether they were born American citizens or immigrants—do not completely determine their future.

Terming it a "dream" also carries with it the notion that these ideals aren't necessarily what has played out in the lives of many actual Americans and those who hope to become Americans. The criticism that reality falls short of the American dream is at least as old as the idea itself. The spread of settlers into Native American lands, slavery, the limitation of the vote originally to white male landowners, and a long list of other injustices and challenges have undermined the realization of the dream for many who live in the United States.

As income inequality has increased substantially since the s, the American dream has begun to seem less attainable for those who aren't already affluent or born into affluence.

According to U. Census family income data, real family income began to grow much more among the top income group than among other segments of American society. These realities, however, do not diminish the luster of the American dream as an ideal and a beacon to all nations. The ideals of the American dream are motivating, including the freedom to be in charge of one's own life.

Today, homeownership is frequently cited as an example of attaining the American dream. In addition, access to education and healthcare have been cited as elements of the Dream. Homeownership has steadily increased over time in the U. For example, the homeownership rate at the end of was Entrepreneurship has always been important to the U. In , small businesses created 1. Owning property, one's own business, and carving a life of one's own making is all part of the American dream, and the U.

Rosenberg identifies five components of the American dream that have shown up in countries around the world. These include the following:. The American dream was aided by a number of factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries.

For starters, it is relatively isolated geographically, compared to many other countries, and enjoys a temperate climate. It has a culturally diverse population that businesses use to foster innovation in a global landscape.

Abundant natural resources—including oil, arable land, and long coastlines—generate food and income for the country and its residents.

The original concept of the American Dream was coined by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling book Epic of America. It's widely debated if the American Dream is still achievable, and what that achievement even entails. Examples of the American Dream include owning your own house, starting a family, and having a stable job, or owning your own business. Martin Luther King Jr. King had pondered and preached about how African Americans didn't get a chance to access the reality of the American dream because they were not truly equal to white men and women.

They both started to gain traction in the American political and cultural conversation discernibly around They then came into direct conflict in the late s and early s in the fight over entering World War II. The echoes between years ago and now are in many ways as powerful, if not more powerful, than the echoes between now and the post-war situation. What happens when we don't understand the nuances of these phrases?

We find ourselves accepting received wisdoms, and those received wisdoms can be distorting and flat-out inaccurate. At best, they're reductive and oversimplifying. It's like the telephone game, the more it gets transmitted, the more information gets lost along the way and more you get a garbled version of, in this case, important understandings of the historical evolution and the debates surrounding our national value system.

I hope that this history can be liberating to discover that these ideas that you think are so constricting, that they can only ever mean one thing—to realize that years ago it meant the exact opposite. Anna Diamond is the former assistant editor for Smithsonian magazine.

Behold, America In "Behold, America," Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of twentieth-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. Post a Comment.