Thoreau Essay

Simmons 1

Kailin Simmons
February 12, 2012
AP English
American Dream Essay

The American Dream
On July 4, 1776, our nation set forth the Declaration of Independence.   This legal document states some of the most important principles that we still perform today; Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. This entitles every American the right to accomplish the life that he or she wishes to live, only if they are willing to work for it. Liberty from the government to do as they please. And foremost, the right to be happy no matter what they chose to follow. As Rose Mary L. Bray states in her essay, So How Did I Get Here, she states, “She and my father reminded us again and again and again that every book, ever test, every page of homework was in fact a ticket out of the life we lived.”   At the age of 21, Bray found her way out of welfare when she graduated from Yale on June 4, 1976.   Her great triumphs took her from the lower end of the social class system to a prospering young woman who found her American Dream. She was able to use the many opportunities that America offered to take her from poverty to prosperity.
Over the years the trends of the American Dream has been changed and are now thought of in different perspectives. Yet, it has all circled around one aspect; the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.   All have come to know that America is the land of a thousand opportunities and that is how we will continue with our lives for many centuries to come.   If you have the right work ethic and drive to achieve your desirable way of life, you will accomplish it without the government holding you back. A farm, a house, a family, or great wealth; what ever you set you mind to, you will fulfill it if you take the opportunities our government offers us. In   A Chinamen's Chance by Eric Lui states, “This is a Nation of second chances. So as long as there are young Americans who do not take what they have – or what they can do -   for granted,...