Ich muss einen Text über den "American Dream" verfassen.
Über Korrekturen würde ich mich sehr freuen!
Danke!
The „American Dream“
The meaning of the "American Dream" has changed in history. The idea of an American Dream is older than the United States and goes back to the 17th century. Historically the Dream originated in the hopes for the new unexplored continent. Many people hope to to find low-cost land for farmownership. They had the dream of owning land and establishing businesses which should generate success and happiness. Some people also incorporated ideals of religious freedom into their American Dreams. in 1620 the first settlers were driven to America by persecution, in the New World, they hoped for a chance of equality. They want to have a new start in order to have a better life without oppression. In this times America represented a new life of freedom, material happiness and success. In the 17th century the east cost was overcrowded. From this time on settlers began to move west. The unexplored west brought up new hopes for success to those, who didn´t achieved their aims in the east.
In 1776 there was a important incidence that inhibits the key aspect oft the American Dream. After several Battles, the majority of colonists wanted ther independence. At a meeting of the Second Continental Congress Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, proposed that the American colonies should declare their independence from Britain. Therefore some delegates, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, were called upon to draft a written proclamation of independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote down the “United States Decleration of Independence” which contained all human rights and values dating from the beginning of the American history. It proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." So you can say that the Decleration of Independence can be seen as the first written proof of the intends of the American Dream.
In times when slavery has been quite normal, many people immigrated to America hoping for a better live. You can imagine of a poor black worker in the fields. Often he is working 14 hours a day. But nevertheless he can hardly support his family because of too little payment. This destiny was shared by many people in the 18th century. A lot of them would like to start a new life and leave everything behind. And what country would be better than America? Many immigrants has used this opportunity to realise their own American dreams.
Till this time the American Dream meens the right to be free in personal and religious ways and that everyone has the chance for a successful life no matter from whom he descended.
In the next decades the “American Dream” changed. With the Industrialisation of the 20th century large numbers of immigrants came to the USA who dreamed of a better life, individual wealth and cheap soil. For them America offered enormous possibilities. Especially in1920 -the golden twenties – a period where old values were destroyd by pursuit of wealth the meaning of American Dream deferred and removed from its original backround. Just the dream of fame, money, success was left over while the early spiritual ideals are forgotten more and more.
In 1931 the Historian James Truslow Adams popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his book Epic of America: “The American dream, that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of merely material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been much more than that. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class.”
He sum up that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. “
Maybe his words can remind us in the original intention of the American Dream and in the things which are really important next to materialistic wealth.
To sum up the American dream means equal rights and freedom for many people. Other dreams are fortune and fame. It inhibits the equality of opportunity of getting rich fr everyone. Essentially the American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives.
