Title: Searching for the American Dream | HuffPost
Headings: Searching for the American Dream
Searching for the American Dream
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Content: Jefferson’s vision of the American Dream was based on the idea of limitless land, but the 1890 census revealed there was no frontier — no unsettled areas left. America went from a nation of farmers and independent craftsman to a nation of employees working for a salary or an hourly wage. As America transformed from an agrarian to an industrial nation the American Dream changed with it. As America became more stratified, as people worked in large hierarchical organizations, the American Dream became a tied to visions of social mobility. The key to realize the dream was not to be independent and self-sufficient but to possess the skills that would allow you to navigate the new industrial order and to rise up through the ranks. If Jefferson defined the agrarian phase of the Dream then Horatio Alger defined the industrial phase. Alger turned out hundreds of books, all of them with the same premise: A young man who was down on his luck, but filed with optimism, would through hard work rise from the streets and gain middle class respectability. His characters rarely became rich, but they escaped poverty and became respected members of the new American middle class. It was a message that resonated with the millions of immigrants who came to America looking for opportunity and a better life: