Puritans and the American Dream

So many different cultures believed that if they came to America, all their dreams would come true and all their troubles would be over. This dream didn’t exist for any certain class of people, it was believed by everyone. Whether they were rich, poor or just looking for a new way of life, America was the place to go. Inexpensive land, better conditions, but most of all, for a new and better life was what led so many cultures to America.

But becoming rich and having land wasn’t the only reason people flocked to America. Some cultures were giving up their places of origin for religious freedom. The early colonists took religion very seriously and believed it defined their individuality. The Puritans along with the Pilgrims and Quakers all wanted to leave England to re-establish their religious practice. England and the Puritans had different beliefs about how Christianity should be practiced and this difference of opinion is what drove the Puritans to head for America. England wanted to make changes and give a new lease of life to Christianity. The Puritans perceived things entirely differently and believed that the modifications England wanted to make to their religion would bring about great misfortune. The New World would bring great blessings from God to the Puritans if they dug their heels into the American soil.

One of the things that is not made known by many history books is that a lot of people that came to America eventually went back to their homeland. “Given that people generally came to this country because of intolerable conditions in Europe, this implies that they found life here, whether in the teeming slums of New York or the freezing prairies of North Dakota, even worse” (Locke, 2002).

The American dream has not changed significantly in view of the fact that, everyone is still seeking that perfect life. Although, since the early 1900’s there have been many alterations to the American dream. The American dream was challenged by depression, racial instability in the 20th and 30th centuries and caused the possibility of abolishing the American dream for many. There were the conservatives that existed after the war that went into the mid 50’s, and the American dream became a different ambition. The 1960’s lead us into the denial of the American dream brought on by the hippie ideals. Even after all the modernization of the American dream, the idea of the dream has never been extinguished.

Even though the Puritans migrated to America for all of the right reasons, a lot has changed in their search for the true religion and their own personal American dream. The standards of the religious people have changed and so have the family values changed considerably since the Puritans discovered the American land. The traditional families and values of the American family are not close to the once treasured unit. The American dream has changed for many cultures, from religion to success and today you will find people coming to America to find success, go to school and still inherit the riches of the American land. The American dream is still very real to a lot of people and the reasons to seek the American dream continues to seize all the countries that feel once they get to America, all their dreams will come true.

America will always stand as a country where people can come to so that they can have a better life. For whatever reason, they do not believe that staying in their country will benefit them anymore, and this causes them to immigrate to America. For years to come, America will be the icon of freedom and success.

References

Locke, Robert. “The History of American Immigration.” FrontPage Magazine 6 Sep 2002. 26 Jan 2006 .