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The American Dream

Decent Essays

Judit Beltran Ms.Roby U.S History Final The American Dream today is different to every individual but as a nation it is being economically safe and having something to work for. It is having the ability to do the same thing everyone else is doing. It is being able to believe in anything you want, even if its something as imaginative as unicorns. The overall definition of “The American Dream” is to be successful in work and in society. This definition is very generic so no matter how many years pass it will pretty much be the same. When we first came to America, The American Dream was to be religiously free and to have more land. Except that you really couldn't be religiously free because all of the first settlers were Puritans and everyone who lived there in that time were expected to live and to oblige to the rules of Puritans. Then we saw that they persecuted immigrants for being Catholic or for being extremely different than they are. “Their resentment, combined with anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment among all classes in London led to ‘No Irish Need Apply’ signs,...” (The History Place, 2000) The Irish could not achieve The American Dream because they could not get jobs and they were forced to live in horrible conditions. They were not the only ones. Over the years older Americans have been greedy about the American Dream, oppressing incoming immigrants. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was also a major achievement in making the American Dream. Part of the American

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