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Is The American Dream Attainable For Everyone Essay

841 Words4 Pages

Lena Romero
Mrs. Thomas
HE11
May 5, 2023

The American Dream: Is It Attainable for Everyone? “The American dream of rags to riches is a dream for a reason - it is hard to achieve; were everyone to do it, it wouldn't be a dream but would rather be reality” (qtd. Fulton). Robert Barlow Fulton’s idea of the American Dream in the early 1800s. “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 ability or achievement” (Adams 1). James Truslow Adams mentions this in his book, The Epic of America, released in 1931. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but …show more content…

However, times were obviously different compared to the time period we currently live in. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed so, United States were just recently freed from British rule. “The nineteenth century was marked by a heightened sense of individualism and self-interest” (Encyclopedia 1). Americans in this period were determined to explore the frontier to discover who and what else was out there. “This frontier mindset called for a rugged individualism that quickly replaced the community-oriented thinking that once motivated the American colonists” (Encyclopedia 1). Freedom and independence were a new ideology that proceed within the American …show more content…

This period is very well known for activism when it comes to equal rights for women along with different races. This is when the idea of the American Dream starts changing based on who you ask. Martin Luther King Junior, for example, was a social rights activist and leader of the civil rights movement (Britannica 1). He gave his infamous “I Have a Dream Speech” in 1963, where he states “I have a dream,” followed by multiple different problems or ideals that he would like to be changed, mostly ones that involve the discrimination of African Americans in the United States. Martin Luther King Junior’s idea of an American Dream during his time period is different than white people. Himself alongside other African Americans did not have a choice to have the same American Dream as the white people of their time. African Americans had to fight through this rough patch to even be given the chance to have a typical “American

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