Title: American Dream Definition
Headings: American Dream
American Dream
What Is the American Dream?
Key Takeaways
American Dream
Understanding the American Dream
Advantages and Disadvantages of the American Dream
Advantages
Disadvantages
How to Measure the American Dream
Special Considerations
American Dream FAQs
What Is the Original American Dream?
Is the American Dream Still Achievable?
What Are Examples of the American Dream?
What Is the American Dream in Dr. Martin Luther King's Speech?
The Bottom Line
Article Sources

Content: Though the definition of the American Dream has changed to mean different things to different generations, it's undoubtedly part of the American ethos, and likely always will be. 1:31
American Dream
Understanding the American Dream
The term was coined by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling 1931 book Epic of America. 1 He described it as "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 went on to explain, "It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." The idea of the American dream has much deeper roots. Its tenets can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which states: “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” 2
In a society based on these principles, an individual can live life to its fullest as they define it. America also grew mostly as a nation of immigrants who created a nation where becoming an American—and passing that citizenship to your children—didn't require being the child of an American.