What is the American Dream?

What did the original settlers of America believe was the American dream?

Why did they come to America? What were they looking for that they were not getting in their home countries? List at least three pieces of evidence.

John Winthrop

This sermon was given while still on board the ship Arbella right

before it landed in what is now Massachusetts. Winthrop, alluding

to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, said:

…for we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths

of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake; wee shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into Curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going…

HOW HAS "THE AMERICAN DREAM" CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?

Why has the American Dream changed? What caused that change?

James Truslow Adams

• 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 their ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each 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.” (214-215).

The Declaration of Independence

• The authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence held certain 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." Might this sentiment be considered the foundation of the American Dream?

Were homesteaders who left the big cities of the east to find happiness and their piece of land in the unknown wilderness pursuing these

inalienable Rights? Were the immigrants who came to the United States looking for their bit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their

Dream? And what did the desire of the veteran of World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a family - tell us about this

evolving Dream? Is the American Dream attainable by all Americans

What is The American Dream?

What is your American Dream?

• Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families - but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life.

Write about your American Dream.

What is it and why ?

"America"• Far,

We've been traveling farWithout a home

But not without a star

Free,Only want to be free

We huddle closeHang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planesThey're coming to AmericaNever looking back again,They're coming to America

HomeDon't it seem so far away

Oh, we're traveling light todayIn the eye of the stormIn the eye of the storm

HomeTo a new and a shiny place

Make our bed and we'll say our graceFreedom's light burning warmFreedom's light burning warm

Everywhere around the worldThey're coming to America

Ev'ry time that flag's unfurledThey're coming to America

Got a dream to take them thereThey're coming to America

Got a dream they've come to shareThey're coming to America

They're coming to AmericaThey're coming to AmericaThey're coming to AmericaThey're coming to America

Today, Today,Today, Today, Today

My country 'tis of thee (today)Sweet land of liberty (today)

Of thee I sing (today)Of thee I sing

Today, Today, TodayToday, today, today......

Neil Diamond

"American Dream"

Casting Crowns

Read the lyrics as we listen to the song. Pay close attention to how the American Dream becomes a nightmare through the course of the song.

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boyBut all work no God has left Jack with a lost soulBut he's moving on full steamHe's chasing the American dreamAnd he's gonna give his family the finer things

Not this time son I've no time to wasteMaybe tomorrow we'll have time to playAnd then he slips into his new BMWAnd drives farther and farther and farther away

So He works all day and tries to sleep at nightHe says things will get better;Better in time

And he works and he builds with his own two handsAnd he pours all he has in a castle made with sandBut the wind and the rain are comin' crashing inTime will tell just how long his kingdom standsHis kingdom stands

His American Dream is beginning to seemMore and more like a nightmareWith every passing day"Daddy, can you come to my game?""Oh Baby, please don't work late."Another wasted weekendAnd they are slipping away

'Cause he works all day and lies awake at nightHe tells them things will get betterIt'll just take a little more time

He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the endI'll take a shack on the rockOver a castle in the sandNow he works all day and cries alone at nightIt's not getting any betterLooks like he's running out of time'Cause he worked and he built with his own two handsAnd he poured all he had in a castle made with sandBut the wind and the rain are coming crashing inTime will tell just how long his kingdom standsHis kingdom stands

All they really wanted was YouAll they really wanted was YouAll they really wanted was You