Title: The Origins of the American Dream - How the American Dream Works | HowStuffWorks
Headings: How the American Dream Works
How the American Dream Works
The Origins of the American Dream

Content: Jefferson ]. Advertisement
As America evolved and grew throughout the 19th century, so did the notion that America was different from other countries: It was a land of unparalleled opportunity, where anything could be achieved if a person dared to dream big enough. Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who visited the new nation in the 1830s, called this belief "the charm of anticipated success" [source: Cullen ]. American transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau, in his 1854 book "Walden," articulated it this way: " If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours" [source: Thoreau ]. The words "American dream" gradually began to appear in newspaper articles and books in the mid- to late-1800s, often in reference to hardy pioneers who headed westward to seek fortune, or to European immigrants who arrived in U.S. ports in search of better jobs and homes. By the early 20th century, it was a euphemism for upward economic mobility -- the prototypical American rags-to-riches dream.