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American Dream
Date: 2017
From: Gale Middle School Online Collection
Publisher: Gale, a Cengage Company
Document Type: Topic overview
Length: 1,401 words
Lexile Measure: 1130L
Content Level: (Basic)

Full Text:
The American dream is the belief that the United States provides the freedom for all Americans to be happy and live a better life if
they work hard and try their best. Since the United States was founded in 1776, the American dream has represented different things
to different people. Some people think it means making money and becoming rich. Others see it as being able to buy a house, raise a
family, and live a happy life without fear of losing those things.

One common feature of the idea of the American dream is that it is open to everyone—those born in the United States and
immigrants who move there. While many ideas of what the American dream means exist, it has also changed over time. Some
people believe the modern American dream is in danger and is much harder to achieve than it was in the past.

Fast Facts
Fast Facts
More than twenty million immigrants came to the United States between 1880 and 1920.
In 1903, a poem called “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus was engraved on the Statue of Liberty. This poem came to
represent the immigrants coming to the United States in search of the American dream. It contains the famous line, “Give me
your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.…”
During the worst years of the Great Depression, about one in four Americans was unemployed. In some cities, the
unemployment rate was as high as 80 percent.
More than sixteen million Americans served in the military during World War II. About seven million of them took advantage of
the G.I. Bill and attended college when they returned home.
To help Americans afford homes during the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Federal National
Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae buys mortgage loans from lenders such as banks. This
allows banks to have access to more money so that it is easier for them to make more home loans.

The “Land of Opportunity”

The Founding Fathers planted the seeds of the American dream in the Declaration of Independence when they wrote in 1776 that all
people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They wanted to create a country where people could be free to live
their lives as they chose without interference from an unfair government. Unfortunately, at the time the idea of liberty only applied to
white men who owned land. Over the centuries, however, the laws were changed to provide the same opportunities to people of all
races, religions, and genders.

People in other countries began to see the United States as a place where they could be free to create a better life for themselves
and their families. Starting in the early 1800s and continuing for about a century, millions of immigrants made the journey to America.
Many were fleeing homelands affected by famine, war, and oppressive governments. To them, the United States was a land of
opportunity where they could build a future without fear. Most immigrants who sailed to the United States entered the country through
New York City. After 1886, the first glimpse they may have seen of their new home was the Statue of Liberty located on an island in
New York Harbor. For this reason, many consider the Statue of Liberty to be a symbol of the American dream.

In the 1920s, the idea of the American dream began to change. Instead of being the search for a better life, some now saw it as the
pursuit of material wealth. That way of thinking did not last long. In the early 1930s, the United States was hit by a period of economic
hardship called the Great Depression. Many Americans lost their jobs and were struggling just to survive. During this time, an
American historian named James Truslow Adams (1878–1949) first used the phrase “American Dream.” He defined it as something
more than material wealth. To Adams, it was the ability of all Americans to work to achieve a better life no matter if they had been
born rich or poor.

The Second Bill of Rights

The Second Bill of Rights
On January 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued his State of the Union address to the US Congress. In the address, he
said that the original Bill of Rights in the US Constitution was not enough to ensure the “pursuit of happiness” in the twentieth
century. Roosevelt proposed what he called a “Second Bill of Rights” that would guarantee Americans eight new rights he felt should
be part of a new American dream. Roosevelt proposed the ideas as a pathway for the country. He had little chance to pursue his
ideas, because he died in office on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights includes:

The right to meaningful work of one’s choice

The right to earn enough to support one’s family
The right of every farmer to operate to provide a decent living for his family
The right of every businessman to freely operate
The right of every family to a decent home
The right to quality medical care and good health
The right to economic support in one’s old age or in case of misfortune, such as injury or unemployment
The right to a good education

The Changing American Dream

To help struggling Americans during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) created a series of laws
and programs known as the New Deal. Roosevelt’s New Deal was meant to create jobs and help the economy recover. One of the
ways he tried to do this was to help more people build or buy their own homes. Before the 1930s, people usually did not make
enough money to afford to own a home until they were older. Roosevelt created programs making it easier for people to borrow
money to buy or build a home. It was a way to boost the economy, particularly the construction, home appliance, and furniture
industries. As a result, home ownership became a part of the American dream for the first time.

In 1944, as American troops were fighting in World War II (1939–1945), Roosevelt wanted to make sure that when they returned
home, the troops would have economic security. He created the G.I. Bill of Rights, which provided money to help returning veterans
pay for college and home loans. Many veterans took advantage of the bill and bought their own homes and enrolled in college.
Roosevelt also proposed a similar bill for other Americans. This “Second Bill of Rights” guaranteed every American the right to home
ownership, an education, economic stability, and healthcare. Roosevelt died before his idea was formally voted on in Congress, but it
inspired a new idea of the American dream. Americans believed that if they worked hard they deserved to have a better life in the
form of a good job, a nice home, and financial security.

One of the modern aspects of the American dream is the idea that each generation has the ability to become more successful than its
parents. For much of the twentieth century this was true. Children born in 1940 were 90 percent more likely to earn more money than
their parents. By the twenty-first century, however, this goal had become more difficult. The cost of education, housing, and food
increased a great deal, but people’s salaries did not rise as fast. Economic growth in the United States slowed down while the gap
between the wealthy and the middle class got wider. Because of these factors, children born in 1985 had a less than 50 percent
chance to earn more money than their parents. This has led some people to believe that the American dream can no longer be
reached by the average American.

Words to Know
immigration
The process of moving from a home country to live in another country.
Great Depression
The biggest economic decline in American history. It began in 1929 and did not end until 1946.
New Deal
A series of government programs and reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1941. The purpose of the
New Deal was to bring the United States out of the Great Depression.
G.I. Bill of Rights
Also called the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the G.I. Bill provided World War II veterans with funds and other benefits to
help them attend college and buy homes.
Mortgage
An agreement made with a lender to provide money for the purchase of a home or other real estate property.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2019 Gale, a Cengage Company
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"American Dream." Gale Middle School Online Collection, Gale, 2017. Gale In Context: Middle School,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/XPIMCH095405405/MSIC?u=minh_viet_llc&sid=MSIC&xid=391f4aa9. Accessed 1 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|XPIMCH095405405