Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The American Dream
- "From rags to riches,
from dishwasher to
millionaire"
- hope of
self-improvement
and success
- vision and aspiration
- illusion
- USA as "the land of promise"
- some immigrants believed that the
streets would be paved with gold
- the more realistic just
hoped for a better life
- immigrants believed that in America
personal success was possible and within
reach of each individual because of the
social, economic and political conditions
for hard-working people
- liberty, justice and
the pursuit of
happiness
- as expressed in the Declaration of
Independence 1776
- foundation
of American politics
- but: this dream of a democratic
and prosperous society
guranteeing "liberty and justice
for all" has not been achieved
for all groups in America
- black Americans >>
often shot by white
citizens
- gun law
- Martin Luther King
- famous speech "I have a dream" (1960s)
- referred to the ideal of equality as "a dream
deeply rooted in the American dream"
- was optimistic that the dream would
come true for black people too
- The American Dream
in our modern world
- much harder to follow
- not everyone is able to achieve
personal accomplishment
- People who are unable to attain success in a
competitive world are regarded as loosers
- Barack Obama
- elected in 2009
- 145 years after Abraham Lincoln
had freed blacks from slavery
- slogan "yes we can"
- first black US President
- Democrat
- evoked a new confidence in the American people that solutions to the
problems the country was confronted with could eventually be found
- what did he promise?
- withdrawl from Iraq
- tax cuts for the
middle class
- new health insurance
("Obama Care")
- energy programmes