The American Dream [ɘ′mɛrikɘn ′dri|m] Structure: 1. Definition of "the American Dream" 2. Constitutional history of the United States 3. Martin Luther King: "I have a Dream" 4. "The new American Dream" 5. Result 6. Sources 1. Definition of "the American Dream" "The American Dream" is a complex term that covers all spheres of life in the American society. We connect this term with the principles of the American Declaration of Independence from 1776. These principles are freedom, individualism, diligence and strive for luck and fairness. The materialistic interpretation if "the American Dream" defines America as the land/country of the unlimited possibilities. Sometimes this term has an ironic meaning. This ironic meaning applies to the contrast between the principles and the materialistic attitude which predominates in the American society. 2. The American Dream in the history of the United Nations The myth of the foundation of the United States bases on the privileges of Columbus in 1492 and on the Mayflower-Compact in 1620. So the first time the American dream was dreamt was in the 17th century. The Mayflower-Compact means that Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower and landed near Cape Cod in Massachusetts. There they found Plimouth Plantation and so they were able to live with their own laws and rules. After 20 years 20 000 puritants followed to America. They wanted to bring the Christianity there. The people in America tried to find the balance between loyalty to the government and the independence in an own and western community. This was manifested in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and later in the Federal Constitution in 1787/1789. Till the 19th century many immigrants came to America and the population grow. Many people wanted to start a new life in America and to be far away from their native country. 3. Martin Luther King : "I have a dream" On August 28th 1963 Martin Luther King hold a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the famous demonstration for Civil Rights in Washington D.C.. Quotation: "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Fivescore years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity; one hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. [.]Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. This offense we share mounted to storm the battlements of injustice must be carried forth by a biracial army. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating 'for whites only.' We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of excessive trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to South Carolina; go back to Georgia; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of the northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed --- we hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream 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 content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of inteposition and nullification, that one day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. That is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hear out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning ---'my country 'tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride; from every mountain side, let freedom ring'---and if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when we allow freedom to ring, when we lit it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants -- will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.' He fought for the principles and the rights for the black people and against racism in the United States. He criticized the vision of "the American Dream", because only the white people had the rights to live the principles of the Declaration of Independence. → Black people were discriminated 4. "The new American Dream" In the 20th century the American Dream was destroyed for the first time through the Great Depression after the Wall Street Crash in 1929. 'The debate over the nation's economic policies has become so vacuous and out of touch that it's alarming. The Republicans look eerily like the party of Calvin Coolidge, with a tax cut on corporate dividends masquerading as their catch-all solution to a stalled economy. The Democrats have at least tried to help, with tax cuts for lower-income people, assistance for state and local governments, and extended unemployment benefits. It is time for a change. The market crash, the ensuing recession, the worsening societal inequality--these are not normal cyclical downturns or growing pains. We are in a crucial transitional stage. The nature of our economy is changing; the nature of what people want from our economy is changing. A whole new system for creating wealth is taking shape, a new kind of capitalism that is powerful and full of promise, but far from fully formed. Yet neither party is proposing measures that might help it along because neither appears to grasp what's going on. The key factor going largely unheeded is the rise of creativity as the central force in our economy. Without great waves of new products, technologies and industries, our economy would barely have grown since the dark days of the 1970s and early 1980s. Without constant innovation none of our industries will avoid the grim fate that befell factories and offices across the United States. Innovation doesn't come magically from an invisible hand. It comes from people. Every innovation, be it the Palm Pilot, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, or the tweaks that make a chemical plant run better, can be traced to human creativity--to people having ideas and finding better ways of doing things. In recent history, the number of people doing creative work has exploded. Those in creative occupations--from engineers and designers to artists and writers to higher-end planners, analysts, managers, and other 'creative professionals'--now comprise more than 30 percent of the workforce, up from about 10 percent in 1900 and only 20 percent as recently as 1980. Creative-sector workers today outnumber blue-collar workers. And the creative sector of the economy accounts for nearly half of all wage and salary income--$1.7 trillion dollars per year. The rise of the creative sector has also changed the way people work, as well as their expectations. The American Dream is no longer just about money. Better pay, a nice house, and a rising standard of living will always be attractive. But my research and others' show another factor emerging: The new American Dream is to maintain a reasonable living standard while doing work that we enjoy doing. In fact, many people are willing to trade income for work they enjoy. I've interviewed countless professionals who left secure jobs for riskier new ventures, often at lower pay, not for a shot at a stock-option bonanza but for a chance to do work that excites them. '
