Ask Christopher Gardner Before looking at what the American Dream is today, we need to look at its roots. It is now an ultimate dream because of its impact globally not only to Americans but also to several other people from several nationalities. The American dream has withstood the test of time to be called a dream. Open mobile menu Psychology Today. Sit back and watch all the sports that are on TV. Party, party and then party some more. Your American Dream Score. Who has time for a weekend. "American Dream" is what you would consider a "perfect life." "The American dream doesn't actually exist in any formal document or in the founding papers," Brown tells BuzzFeed News. Dream Big . The American Dream is an optimistic, motivating force that propels people to achieve and accomplish things that we might otherwise not strive for. In 1931, historian James Truslow Adams first publicly defined the American Dream. Created by Cian Murray. Go on an epic road trip. So what is the American dream? These naysayers will point to personal experience as evidence. These dreams are a sampling from the thousands of student dreams collected from 1998 - 2006. The definition of the American Dream is, “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Back in the 50s and 60s, this looked like owning a home, the man having a blue-collar job, starting a family, … As someone who is both black and a woman and also queer, it’s really hard to juggle all of these things and be in your own body ... to exceed other people's expectations of you, especially in white America. If you could swap places with one Irish star who has broke America, who … Since 2007, photographer Ian Brown has traveled the United States taking portraits of the country's citizens and asking each subject the same question: What does the American dream mean to you? Someone who manages to achieve their version of the American dream is said to be « living the dream ». James Truslow Adams, in his book The Epic of America, which was written in 1931, stated that the American dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to … To sum up, the American Dream is freedom to act, freedom to take responsibility for one’s actions, freedom to pursuit one’s dreams and life goals, freedom to choose one’s destiny. Adams' often-repeated quote is, "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." It’s the personification of the Quote by Virgil “fortune favors the bold.” Is The American Dream Still Achievable?