What Really is the American Dream? Author: Alexander Bruno Abstract

Bruno, 2019. What Really is the American Dream? 11 
To state it simply, the idea of the ideal American person stems from the aspirations of the 
“presence of the Great Spirit,”
20
and that Great Spirit, as has been determined, comes from the 
combined uniqueness of the original inhabitants in the undisturbed (or some may say ruthless) 
state of nature. This case is taken forward by Charles A. Beard (1874 – 1948) who writes that 
“progress is not inevitable but…is dependent on human will and effort.”
21
What Beards means by 
this is that there is no defined or guaranteed concept which can be claimed as the spirit. He 
suggests, in the predicate of his proposition, that the spirit is a progressive search, and so it is the 
spirit which grants the American his or her agency and/or citizenship. In fact, when Pontiac speaks 
of the presence of the ‘Great Spirit,’ he is actually saying that the spirit is the active search for, and 
the refinement of citizenship virtues. Embedded in the spirit is also the belief in a mission of 
completeness, just as Beard expressed. The spirit is a progressive activity, as is discovered in the 
illustrations of those interesting characters (and scholars) who were engaged in galvanizing 
awareness during the early American revolutionary era. The spirit is the main building block of 
the American way – the American Dream, which is anchored in the people’s will.
Continuous reference is made to the ‘Great Spirit’ during and even after the American 
revolution. In fact, discussion about the spirit has been unceasing through America’s history, and 
my aim is to zoom in on the agency of that spirit of the American ideal. So far we have sought to 
establish a common refrain: the spirit of the people which is determined by the ‘Great Spirit’ during 
the reawakening and how this continues to manifest itself in the life of Americans. The discussion 
can, therefore, progress with this connection of the present to the past. In fact, the indigenous 
revolutionary, Red Jackket, provides the linkage from the establishment of the spirit to its 
20 . The Norton Anthology, Savage (Pontiac), Old English Libraries: the Making, Collection And Use 
of Books During the Middle Ages, 444.
21 . New Order of the Ages, Lienesch, 1988, Time, the Constitution, and the Making of Modern American Political
Thought

Bruno, 2019. What Really is the American Dream? 12 
acceptance. In defense of the traditional beliefs of the original American Indians, Sagoyewatha, or 
‘Red Jackket’ as he was generally called, state the following: 
Friend and brother; it was the will of the ‘Great Spirit’ that we should meet 
together this day. He orders all things, and he has given us a fine day for our 
council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and caused it to shine with 
brightness upon us; our eyes are opened, that we see clearly; our ears are 
unstopped, that we have been able to hear distinctly the words that you have 
spoken; for all these favors we thank the Great Spirit and him only.
22
Red Jacket continues - with his address to the Seneca, an amalgamation of Native Indian 
communities that pre-dates the United States Constitution, by stating that, “there was a time when 
our forefathers owned this great land.”
23
Sagoyewatha states further: 
Their [the forefathers,] seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The 
‘Great Spirit’ had made it for the use of Indians. He had created the buffalo, the 
deer, and other animals for food. He made the bear and the beaver, and their skins 
served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country, and taught us how 
to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this he had 
done for his red children because he loved them.
24
When one takes a microscopic view of Sagoyewatha’s statements, it seems clear that he is invoking 
a certain passionate pride in his audience which does not merely rest upon the surface of his 
utterances. There is more going on beneath the text, and the mention of the spirit is an indicator of 
22 . The Norton Anthology, 451. 
23 . The Norton Anthology, 451 
24 . The Norton Anthology, 451

Bruno, 2019. What Really is the American Dream? 13 
that essential quality, or authority, which the individual possesses; the essence to dream; to aspire, 
to succeed; to achieve. 
What Sagoyewatha did not actually say, in my view, is that such spirit is a creation of one’s 
own will and desire to survive, to be respected, to be free and to strive. It is this spirit which is 
captured in the literary discussion of American luminaries and early patriots like Benjamin 
Franklyn, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine (whom we have already dealt with in some detail). 
These individuals had the collective discernment of the spirit of the American person, and they 
were not shy about their convictions as we shall discover at the conclusion of this essay. In fact, it 
is only fitting that the culmination of this particular discussion becomes the starting point of 
another conversation in this synthesis of literary expressions on the spirits of the American person 
– the American Dream. The American Dream is, therefore, that unbroken spiritual vehicle which 
propels peoples’ aspirations. 
From the early days, based on an understanding of the literature, it became clear what 
America meant to the people and what role they, ‘the people,’ would play in that ‘new America.’ 
Again, we refer to the spirit, or the dreams and aspirations of the American person. A dream to 
aspire and to strive; a continuous quest to keep the ambitions of a unique people alive, and it is 
this very attitude which drives my research and places this discussion in its proper context. The 
spirit of this new nation, America, would serve as a blueprint to the dream and it is in fact the 
dream. All future references to ‘the spirit’ is replaced by ‘the dream’ or the ‘American Dream’ for 
the remainder of the narrative. The dream supports America’s renewal. The dream represents a 
melting pot of ideas, cultures, values and rugged individualism. The dream is contradictions; it is 
boundless propensity and endless prosperity. The dream is a progressive action, or belief, or faith 
in those vastly unknown strengths which are enshrined in the American ideal. The dream is a 

Bruno, 2019. What Really is the American Dream? 14 
pursuit; it is undeniable, transcendent, pure and some say - true. This dream moves the American 
person into existence among other peoples and nations, and calls her or him into action. This dream 
is uniquely America, or American, because it dispels the colonial notion of submission.
The discussion has arrived at this stage where a clearer and more concise reasoning of the 
American Dream may be had. The American Dream is seen as independent from a mediating 
supreme; it is its own mission which appeals to different individuals in varied ways. The dream 
shifts the dynamics away from subjected people to free individuals. The American Dream explains 
what is possible in the land of the dreamers - American. The progressive search for the dream is 
the dream itself, and that dream is planted in, or evolves from the peoples’ aspirations. The 
people’s aspirations is not in the domains of any sort of foreign entity or force, instead, it is a 
journey towards that which is unknown and that which is possibly bigger than the person. By 
identifying the dream through the progressive search, the American person is unique and this 
uniqueness became evident during the early colonial/republic or revolutionary era. The dream is 
present today and it shall remain so (or it may get even better defined) in the future.
With the three words, ‘We the People,’ the Constitution places people at the centerpiece of 
the foundation upon which ‘The American Dream’ is built. There are those who lose their lives in 
the pursuit of an elusive ‘American Dream’ and others who boast of living the dream each and 
every day. Although there may not be a set definition for the American Dream, there are notions, 
as has been discussed, which establish the concept of the dream. These are embedded in the articles 
of the founding documents of the United States of America, and are kept alive through the civil 
liberties. Del Cid (2011) takes this idea of the American Dream to the contemporary era. She writes 

Bruno, 2019. What Really is the American Dream? 15 
that “the American Dream is globally acknowledged due to media forms such as television and 
the internet”
25
in recent times in particular.
The American Dream has become manifested in the Congress of the United States of 
America. The Dream Act of 2017 which brought legislators on rival sides of Congress together is 
said to be in support of America’s values: 
The Dream Act treats young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as
children — some as babies — fairly by providing a permanent legislative solution 
that allows them to stay in the U.S. The bill prevents Dreamers from deportation
to a country where they did not grow up and many do not remember. It allows
them to reach their full potential and have the opportunity to become American in
the eyes of the law, contributing to a brighter future for all Americans.
26
The principle of the ‘Dream Act, (as stated above) is hence clearly documented. The American 
Dream is, therefore, not entirely elusive, or idealist, and it is certainly not vague. The 
Congressional Dream Act confirms that the American Dream is what it means for each individual, 
but it is also an American responsibility to the fulfillment of a collective promise. This promise 
allows for individuals – in this and future generation – to live out their full potential with the 
opportunity of becoming an American and to contribute to a brighter future for all Americans.
The dream is personal and it is collective. It certainly ratifies the early American motto: E 

tải về 333.38 Kb.

Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn: