American Dream

             Introduction : What is the American Dream and how does this idea occur?.
             "It has been a dream of being able to grow to the fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the single human being of any and every class." - James Truslow Adam, The Epic of America (1931).
             "America means equality of citizenship - every man has a vote. Most of all, America means relief from the burden of taxes and militarism, and an opportunity to make more money and live better." - John M. Oskison, "Why Am I an American" (1912).
             During the expansive era of European colonization from the sixteenth century through the eighteenth century, many European nations namely Spain, French, Sweden, Holland, Germany and England shared in the colonization of the American continent. They looked at the New World with an unabounded optimism as they were suffered from poverty, religious controversies or political oppression and from the injustice in the Old World. Therefore, they came to the New World with the desire for economic opportunity or for material betterment, yearning for religious freedom, plain love of adventure, patriotism or even the vision of the New World as an asylum or Utopia. And this is the beginning of the American dream - the dream of freedom, of success, and of wealth. A utopian meriocratic vision that promises success to those who work hard.
             This Utopian vision has an undeniable component in American life even today. Traditionally, we think of the American dream as owning a home and having happy family, with some undefined financial success often referred to as "comfortable". But the dream aspect of the American dream connotes a national, universal, and euphoric vision, despite some of the mundane aspect of the Dream as it is often defined.