The Promise of the American Dream
The Dream is not dead. We are living in an era of its triumph.
By Abigail Buritica
A white picket fence, a retirement fund, perhaps a Caribbean cruise every couple of years—we are all familiar with this vision of the American Dream. It is primarily an economic ethos, a dream of universal opportunities for material prosperity. Under this standard, a laundry list of economic goods should be attainable to those who work hard. Popularly understood, the American Dream means improving one’s economic standing beyond that of the last generation.
Commentators point to Gen-Z’s low rates of property ownership and high rates of debt and conclude that sadly, the American Dream is on its way out. As the nation turns 250, my generation must take stock of what the American experiment has become. Even diligent work no longer guarantees the material stability our parents took for granted. Economically uncertain and disillusioned, Generation Z has increasingly begun to regard the dream as a catchphrase. They see it as an optimistic slogan of a bygone era. But before we pronounce it obsolete, we must understand what the American Dream promises in the first place.
The debate over the Dream’s decline presumes we know what the Dream is. Is it something that rises and falls with housing prices? The American Dream has little to do with the amount of money in an average citizen’s bank account. Looking beyond present commentary to a history of the phrase itself illuminates a different story. It reveals an entirely new narrative about the purpose of the American experiment.
An American Creed
The phrase “American Dream” was first coined by the historian and popular writer James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book The Epic of America. His argument specifically distinguishes the American Dream from aspirations to material prosperity. This Dream was primarily a sociopolitical one, denoting a national commitment to something more aspirational than simple economic comfort. Our nation’s dream is,
“…not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each 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.”
Adams did not laud material outcomes on their own merit. Rather, he asserted that the American experiment is worth preserving because its fundamental principles of individual liberty, common freedom, and democratic equality under the law provide the social and cultural conditions required to secure “a better, richer and happier life for all.” Writing at the peak of the great depression, Adams sought to inspire the nation with a unified vision for the future.
Forging an American Civic Faith
The author was strongly influenced by post-war creedal rhetoric, which sought to rally Americans around a set of national moral principles. The Great War in Europe, which had claimed over one hundred thousand American lives, remained a recent, vivid, and grim memory. Europe, however, was becoming increasingly unstable as authoritarian movements consolidated power across the continent.
Confronted with the immense costs of the war and the mounting political turmoil abroad, American people were liable to doubt. They wondered whether their own experiment in self-government was secure. Might it, too, prove vulnerable to the forces of violence and tyranny that had overtaken the Old World? Within this climate of concern, political leaders sought to unite the people behind an inspirational American ethos. Public leaders and intellectuals increasingly turned to the language of creed. They insisted that the integrity of the American experiment depended on the intrinsic strength of its founding principles and on its citizens’ fidelity to them.
Congress sponsored patriotic competitions that produced statements such as William Tyler Page’s American’s Creed, which was designated the “best summary of the political faith of America.” The creed became a staple of post-war civic education and exemplified a national commitment towards principles of a just liberal democracy. Schoolchildren across the nation were taught to recite:
“I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people… established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.”
At the turn of the 20th century, an American creed was a common fixture of domestic political discourse. (READ MORE: A Roadmap To Victory)
Reaffirming the Experiment
By 1931, economic collapse had deepened popular uncertainty about the stability of the American system. In this moment of material hardship and gloomy public outlook, Adams articulated the American Dream in unmistakably creedal terms. This was not the time to laud the American system of government for the material outcomes it produced. He presented the Dream as a reaffirmation of the political and moral principles upon which the republic was founded. The Dream was a concise shorthand for commitments to freedom, equality under the law, and democratic self-government. These principles could sustain national identity and growth beyond periods of hardship. The Dream, therefore, affirmed the durability and distinctiveness of the American experiment. The American Dream was a call to perfect the social and political order proposed by our founding fathers. Embracing the Dream meant committing oneself to the creed that made American flourishing possible.
The Material Turn
Americans did flourish. Following World War II, our society became more affluent than most depression-era citizens could have ever imagined. The American way of life had triumphed, and the postwar boom provided countless opportunities for upward economic mobility. Homes rose across the suburbs with a car in every driveway. During these years, the American Dream took on a more material cast, coming to rest on visible signs of success. To be American was to secure for oneself the fruits of a free capitalist system. This understanding of the American Dream became a powerful tool of foreign policy.
The economic American Dream was exemplified by Richard Nixon’s “kitchen debate” with Nikita Khruschev. Nixon implied that the American project was worth defending because it guaranteed financial and physical comforts: a stable place to live, a fridge with a freezer, and a KitchenAid. American homeownership was proof enough that freedom produced abundance. This image of the American Dream as access to material opportunities found significant staying power in the cultural imagination.
Keeping the Faith
One group of Americans, however, held to a creedal conception of the American Dream. Systematically denied opportunities available to white citizens, the protestors of the civil rights movement fought relentlessly to secure full rights as members of American society. The American Dream was reclaimed as a symbolic promise, made at the founding, of free and equal standing under the law. This aspirational metaphor reached its fullest expression in Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the March on Washington:
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…’ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
We do not pledge allegiance to a ledger of material comforts. From its inception, the American Dream was a declaration of fidelity to principles of justice, freedom and democracy. It was also a confidence that those principles would bring about social flourishing. Economic opportunity is a crucial aspect of the American Dream: it gives the promise substance. But a nation may be prosperous and yet unfree and unequal. The creed of the American Dream set a benchmark for the ideal nation. It found true interpretation in the hands of a disenfranchised people. These brave souls championed a social order in which every American could improve his life without being constrained by the circumstances of his birth.
An Inheritance for the Future
Perhaps a clue to our popular economic vision of the American Dream lies in the clear-eyed words of Adams himself. He wrote that the American Dream “has been realized more fully in actual life here than anywhere else, though very imperfectly even among ourselves.” That claim rings truer today than when he first penned it. Americans enjoy social and political liberties and legal equality at levels unprecedented in our national history. Creedal promises once deferred have been formally secured. Since the social and civic foundations of the Dream appear largely settled, what remains for us to pursue? Material wealth may be gained and lost, but embodying our founding principles is a long-term civic project.
Understanding the American Dream as a commitment to our founding principles shapes how we interpret our national story. The Dream is not dead. We are living in an era of its triumph. The promises of the founding era—of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—now extend, legally and socially, to all citizens of our generation.
This is not to deny that inequality endures or that this generation’s economic anxieties are deeply worrying. But neither are new to the American story. Since its inception, the American Dream has oriented citizens towards the best version of American society. It promises that the American people, bound to freedom, equality, justice, and humanity, can confront their own shortcomings and strive to close the gaps. If the American Dream has proved anything, it is that belief in liberal democracy can survive economic strain and social division. Our world is changing and imperfect. Let us not forget what it means to dream.
About the Author
Abigail Buritica is a Trustee Scholar at Grove City College, where she is pursuing a degree in Political Science with minors in Economics and History. She is passionate about crafting thoughtful public policy proposals for education and immigration reform, both subject areas she was able to focus on during her time as a youth fellow and research intern at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Abigail is actively engaged in the intellectual community at Grove City College, serving as an articles editor for the Journal of Law and Public Policy and contributing writer to Cogitare magazine. She is involved with the campus chapter of the American Enterprise Institute Collegiate Network and strengthens her public speaking and critical thinking skills through collegiate parliamentary debate. Outside of her academic work, she is a research assistant at a private family and property law practice in Austin. In her free time, Abigail enjoys NPR Tiny Desk concerts and the free verse poetry of Walt Whitman.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grove City College, the Institute for Faith and Freedom, or their affiliates.
Cover Image: Photo by Frank Mckenna on Unsplash (Cropped)