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Puritan impact on american culture
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritan impact on american culture
Working hard on the american dream
The american dream through hard work
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the essay “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” Brandon king argues whether or not the American Dream is still alive and well in the USA. The author makes a strong case that the American Dream is, in fact, still held to a high degree of belief in America. Not only does he successfully argue that it is still alive, he presents information that shows how the Dream itself has shifted from a rags-to-riches story to one of a stable, happy life. Overall, King’s use of strong emotional appeals, coupled with his employment of sound reasoning and statistics make his argument that the American Dream has evolved over time very effective.
Dollywood Essay: How does Dollywood Relate with Physical World Concepts? Dollywood is an enjoyable amusement park that was named and founded by the one and only Dolly Parton. All of the rides in the amusement park have something to do with physics. Whether it is velocity, gravity, speed, height, or time, these awesome rides involve some sorts of cool physics behind the highly enjoyable rides. My friends and I got the first hand experience of enjoying the iconic Dollywood.
The American Dream is one’s idea of a better life. In "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes in “Let America Be America Again”, the principal priority is the America Dream, each of this authors has their personal concept of what is consider to be a better life and the sifnificance of dreams regardless of the diverse overwhelming struggles of life. Although in American Culture we tend to view the American Dream as a positive and necessary goal of citizenship, both L.Hansberry and L.Hughes explore the fantasy and the reality that brings trying to archive an attainable goal.
It is often said that this country was built upon basic principles that form the American Dream. These principles revolve around life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Maya Lin once said about the American Dream,“To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.” Though these ideals existed throughout the country, many people still didn’t have nor did they ever get to experience the true american dream.
The “American Dream” is usually thought of as aspiring to change one's life for the better and materially better their situation. We think of it today as going to college and getting a cushy job, but for many in our American history it was much more simple. Many asserted their American dream by declaring their independence. The main similarity was that each had an audacious goal to improve their own life and the lives of some of those around them. Their pursuits of liberty were intimately entwined within the dramatic upheavals taking place in the land recently named America.
As such the American Dream continues the idea that any person who resides within the United States has equal access and opportunity to succeed no matter their socio-economic class, political beliefs, or background. These ideas are not the original reckoning of the founding fathers, but rather inspired by the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was one of the greatest ideological influences of the writers of the constitution (Smith, 2). The idea of entitlement to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from birth comes from John Locke (“Voices of the Revolution: Two Great Thinkers”). Locke is notable for his ideology and its impact on the United States.
John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” was a sermon spoken to the English immigrants/settlers, from the island of Great Brittaine, coming to America, the audience/people receiving his ideas were called puritans. A major reason for the English to colonize America was due to religious freedom, Winthrop believed God put a selected few on the boats going toward America to carry out his message and spread charity. He believed giving to the people who needed help, would also help the community not just the poor. In addition, there were many different groups of people that were on the ship during John’s sermon that gained a sense of unity.
Truth gave this speech 80 years before the American dream was first publically introduced and defined, yet she was still preaching her own version. Sojourner tells the audience, “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere” (Internet History Sourcebooks). At the beginning of her speech she talks about how men believe women should be treated but then she questions if she’s a woman because no one ever treated her that way. “I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me!
The world is made of many races, cultures, traditions, beliefs, and values. America is considered to be a mixture of all those characteristics that define a person. However, in today’s world those characteristics combined and people who create North America define what America is all about reaching and the American dream. This dream is living a prosperous life by initiating a new beginning in moving forward to the ideal happiness of each individual reaching their goals and helping America be described as what it was meant to be the promised land of new beginnings. Nonetheless, for some races and genders, this was not the case especially during 1950’s to 1960’s because sexism and racism still existed.
“The term American Dream was first used by the historian James Truslow Adams in 1931 to explain what had attracted millions of people of all nations to settle in America” (American Dream then and now 1). The idea of the “American Dream” has changed for all ethnic groups throughout time; but my primary focus is African Americans. In general, “The early settlers in America hoped for a better life than the one they had left behind in Europe. Their main reasons for leaving Europe were religious persecution, political oppression and poverty” (American Dream then and now 1). Today, “Critics see the American Dream as a clever political and economic strategy” (American Dream then and now 2).
Impossible Dreams The meaning of the American Dream can be seen as ”A uniquely American vision of the country consisting of three central ideas. The American dream consists of a belief in America as the new Eden- a land of beauty, bounty, and unlimited promise; a feeling of optimism, created by ever expanding opportunity; and a confidence in the triumph of the individual.” Using this definition of the so called “American dream”, it seems to be a great representation of it at first, until you realize it includes everyone as the individual. From the beginning of the Civil war to the end of the War to End All Wars, the American Dream wasn’t possible due to the treatment of the Native Americans, the inequality between women and men, and the false promises given to the immigrants coming to our country in their time of need.
America is known as “The Land of Opportunity” and it established the concept of the American Dream in the 1900’s. The fight for this dream was prevalent even before it was given a name in 1930. The founding fathers wrote this belief into the constitution with the words “All Americans are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” .Some Americans believe that the American Dream can still be obtained in the 21st Century with hard work and perservance ; however, a majority of the American population among race gender and class has a different point of view on what America still provides to their citizens because economic insta8bility and lack of equal opportunity.
Our nation was founded on the core beliefs that we are all entitled to the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”- ideals often embraced by today’s culture, and exercised as a prideful venture toward “The American Dream”. Indeed, this American way of living, this virtue, extends beyond simply going to the office each and every day for eight programmed, anticlimactic hours- we dream up solutions to complex problems, turn science fiction into reality, and build up our own capitalistic enterprises with a burning passion for wealth, forging “something” out of nothing but our will, and earnest determination. For McCandless, taking this fundamental ideology back to its roots, was something vital to him, back where these ambitious dreams dealt by pioneers, became a reality- the pure American soil, free from material excess. Almost nothing can be described as more American then leaving behind everything known to you, in an unfaltering search to conquer a greater purpose, to start over and make a name for yourself- it’s what the Pilgrims had done when they set out on the Mayflower, exploring for a better life, finding a broad new frontier which would become the canvas for innovation and the foundation for all great American dreams; this is what McCandless sought to reach, in his own American way.
No matter who you are or where you have come from, you have undoubtedly heard of the American Dream. The idea that no matter who you are or where you have come from, you can do whatever it is you desire in America. What was once one the main driving forces for immigrants to flock to the new world, has slowly changed over the years, but still holds its value in the eyes of those who are looking for a promising new place to live. The American dream might not hold the same awe inspiring sound that it once did, but for many generations before ours it was a beacon of hope that helped build the foundation that the United States was built on. And, still, today the American dream might not be as achievable as it once was, but it is still an important
The American Dream was created for all to be equal with the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A dream is a series of thoughts on possibilities one can attain, hence, only one can choose to believe in the American Dream and if it’s achievable. In particular, Steve Tobak’s article called The American Dream is Alive and Well focuses on the opportunity Americans have unlike others and that the dream is attainable by all who work for it. A book by John Winthrop called City Upon a Hill implies that all men are capable of anything if they put God first. The American dream should make life fuller for all, provide happiness, and lead every American to believe they can do anything.