American Dream 

noun

1. the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American.

2. a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.

"american dream." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 23 Sep. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/american dream>

Resources:

Library of Congress article

American RadioWorks

American Dream graph

Questions:

• Describe, in your own words, two of the “American Dreams” identified by the author of the Library of Congress article.
• What is your “American Dream?”
• Do you think the “American Dream” is within reach for all Americans in 2012?  Explain your answer.
• In what year was the phrase “The American Dream” first coined?
• According to the American Dream graph, what three terms most commonly define the American Dream for us? 

cover to The Saturday Evening Post, 15 August 1959
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/09/07/the-american-dream/