What is “THE

AMERICAN DREAM”?

i

Is FREEDOM?

EQUALITY?

INDIVIDUALISM?

MOBILITY?

The AMERICAN DREAM (in a nutshell)

• Land of Opportunity• Rags to Riches—Anyone can become rich,

famous, and powerful.• Jobs and education are available to all who

want them.• Meritocracy (rewards) = skill + effort.• Through hard work, courage and

determination, one can achieve prosperity. Americans can live better than their parents did.

Emma Lazarus is best known for "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883; its lines appear on a

bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty[1] in 1912.

• "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the

• homeless, tempest-tossed • to me, I lift my lamp beside • the golden door!"

Coming to America

• America is called the “Melting Pot” because of the immigration here from all over the world. Even though immigrants spoke different languages, had different cultures, and held different beliefs, the one thing they all had in common was to pursue the “American Dream”…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

• The American Dream is the dream of a land where all people can succeed through hard work. It is an idea that suggests that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives.

• 4.• Originally, the definition of the dream

focused on hard work, family, and religious freedom. Today, however, many people see material prosperity and fame as the American Dream.

What do you think of the shift in values of the American Dream? What do you value?

Dream Makers

• “For success, attitude is equally important as ability.”

- Harry F. Banks

“We hold these 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”

Extra Credit Anyone?

It all begins with a Dream . . .

• You see things and say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were and I say, “Why not?”

• ~George Bernard Shaw

A. “Having money clearly takes the sting out of adversities.” What does this mean?

B. Do you agree? Explain.

The Best Example of the American Dream?