Each individual may define the American dream differently. But the general idea is that a person in the United States has the freedom to carry out his or her goals. It usually means a person has the chance to work hard, earn money and create a secure life. For many people, this means being able to get a good education, have a good job and own a house. The expression is often linked to immigrants who have come to this country seeking more freedom or a better life than they could have in their own countries.
Many would say Rosen Sharma from India is enjoying the American dream. He leads an information technology company in Palo Alto, California.
The definition appeared in nineteen thirty-one in a history book by James Truslow Adams, “The Epic of America.” He wrote that 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.”
Some people would say that the United States Declaration of Independence first defined the American dream. Thomas Jefferson wrote this document in seventeen seventy-six. It expressed why the American colonies decided to fight British colonial rule in order to become an independent nation. The Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal." And that they have the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
In the nineteen sixties, the African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior had his own dream for America. He said that America’s declaration that "all men are created equal" is a great expression of the idea of democracy. But he noted that this dream was not a reality. He said that it was the moral duty of Americans to work so that racial minorities and people of different social levels could be treated equally.
An organization called the Center for a New American Dream deals with another kind of dream. Its goal is to help Americans live in ways that protect the environment, improve the quality of life and support social justice.
