What is “THE

AMERICAN DREAM”?

Is FREEDOM?

EQUALITY?

INDIVIDUALISM?

MOBILITY?

AMERICAN DREAM• 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 in 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 also an idea that suggests that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives.

• Originally, the focus was on hard work and religious freedom. Today, however, the focus seems to be on material prosperity and fame.

• The American Dream is deeply rooted in American society.

• Several critics have pointed out that this dream is not attainable to all because of the inequality rooted in class, race and ethnic origin.

• The phrase “The American Dream” came into the American vocabulary starting in 1867 when writer, Horatio Alger came out with his book “Ragged Richard.” It was a rags-to-riches tale of a poor orphan boy in New York City who saved his pennies, worked hard and eventually became rich.

• It became the model that through honesty, hard work and strong determination, the American Dream was available to anyone willing to make the journey.

Dream Makers

• “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hour”.

- Henry David Thoreau

Arnold was born to a police officer and housewife in Austria, and later emigrated to the U.S. speaking no English He went to community college and started acting. Now he is a multi-millionaire, married into one of the most elite families in America—the Kennedys, and is governor of CA. He has said “In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties.”

Ralph Lauren—maker of Polo; son of Russian immigrants who became a fashion mogul billionaire, started working in his teens to buy fashionable clothing.

Oprah, raised by her grandmother in rural poor Mississippi, is a billionaire with a book club, television show, several charities, and many other endeavors.

Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the U.S., was famous for his Witicisms and for discovering electricity using a kite. He was born the son of a candle maker (one of 17 children) and came to stand before kings and Presidents. He is also on our $100 bill.

Finally, Tei Fu Chen is a Taiwanese immigrant who went from living in his car to building a billion-dollar foods empire.

The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson.

The general sentiment is that people are better off than their parents and that it is possible to start out poor and work hard to become rich.

“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”

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

Chinese Stowaways die while trying to enter the U.S.

WHYTAKE THE

RISK?

American Dream?...

Or, a Tale of Two Cities?

REFLECT :

How accurate is the “American Dream”?

•What does the “American Dream” mean in today's world? Is it the same for all Americans? Is it a myth? Is it simply a quest for a better life?

•Why do some see their dreams fulfilled, and others see their dreams wither and die?

•How has the “American Dream” changed over time?

•What factors affect these major events in history (political, economic, educational, social, etc.)

•What is your personal “American Dream”? What is your groups personal dream, as a whole?