Definition essay on key concepts and meaning

American Dream is the idea that anyone, provided he or she works hard enough, can succeed in America. It is an idea that has brought many immigrants to the shores of the nation, and fueled many new businesses, acting careers, and professional aspirations. It is what drives many new arrivals to America to toil nearly nonstop, with the hopes of making themselves wealthy. It is what motivates many parents to spend money they can ill-afford to educate their children at the best schools. Yet the definition of the American Dream, as beautiful as it may be, has proved to be a lie for many who have worked hard, and striven for success, yet failed in the wake of insurmountable social obstacles.

The history of the American Dream can be traced to the colonial era, before America was officially founded as a separate nation. The early settlers of Jamestown in Virginia hoped to make a profit, growing cash crops in the New World. The New England Pilgrims hoped to create a 'shining city on a hill,' a religious society that reflected their concept of an ideal community. Members of the lower classes of Europe, as well as religious minorities fleeing persecution flocked to America's shores, in an attempt to escape the social and financial limitations of an older, tradition-bound society. America's possibilities seemed endless -- endless land to cultivate, and endless freedom. The American Dream was defined, in their eyes, as making a clean break with the old, and beginning again.

However, defining the American Dream in terms of prosperity and freedom can be problematic, given that much of the new wealth that was created was fueled by depriving others of their freedom. Africans were enslaved to create the wealth of the plantation economy of the South and the small farmers of the west toiled upon land where Native Americans had once lived, farmed, and hunted.

Waves of immigrants -- the Irish fleeing famine, the Italians, the Germans, the Scandinavians, the Chinese -- came to America, in the hopes of beginning their own businesses, starting their own farms and making life better for their children. America seemed like a place where the past did not define one's status in the present: yet even though many of these ethnic groups made inroads into America's social fabric and prospered, they also had to struggle against racism and intolerance.

Despite the success of many poor individuals, it is important to remember that even wealthy industrialists and philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie, who made a fortune after beginning life as a poor man, often employed workers at slave wages to make tremendous profits. Even today, having social standing in America conveys undeniable advantages. The rich live in communities with better schools, have better health (and health insurance) and greater access to networking opportunities than the poor. They pass these benefits of education and connections on to their children, benefits that not every aspirant to the American Dream possesses.