Brandon Johnson

Per: 2/3
August 24, 2014
IAKT: American Dream
The American Dream indicates hope within us all. It had existed since, the founding of
the United States of America and it sticks within all of our hearts desires. Our Founding Fathers
had promised us equality, peace, and freedom. Ironically, many Americans have not achieved
the American Dream even during the time the American Dream had first been advertised. Our
Founding Fathers original intent for todays American Dream is not for everyone because of
many factors such as slavery, womens rights, and Immigration issues that had occurred
throughout history.
During the 1700s slavery had a well grounded impact upon America. Many of the people
that had lived in America were slaves, during this time period, which were not treated equally,
with respect, and were basically ignored from the American Dream by our Founding Fathers.
Many of the slaves American Dream had involved escaping America and going back to their
home or, village during the time when slavery was first introduced to the time the slave trade had
became illegal in America. Equiano is a famous slave that turned into a freeman who had
experienced the excruciating truth about America, We were deprived of small comfort and
cried continuously for several days (Equiano, 54). Equianos cry for help explains clearly his
own writing style in his autobiography in which he explains the cruelty that he had gone through
as he was in America. He was so appalled that he even mentioned in his autobiography that he
would never go back to America.
Womens rights were not so, good in America either in which women had to suffer many
hardships in order to get any rights what so ever. Women in America were mostly composed of
housewives that did whatever they were told by their husbands. Women could not vote until the
late 1800s and there were not many jobs out there aside from servant like work. May you
please include the women in the constitution (Adams, 109). Abigail Adams idea of the
American Dream was to simply be equivalent or, treated as fairly as their male counterparts.
America was to be advertised as a paradise on Earth, free of discrimination of any kind.
Later on, this and many other parts of Americas advertisement had attracted many immigrants to
America. Eventually, when the immigrants would arrive it was clear to them that living in
America was not going to be as peachy as they had thought. Most immigrants firsthand
experience with America can be given from their travel to an immigration station like Ellis Island
where they were already being classified.
In conclusion, our Founding Fathers original intent had not fit everybodys standards, in
exception to the old rich white men. Unfortunately, those who differed werent included in the
Bill of Rights until much later on in history. Even today there are many issues from race, sex,
and from immigration. Overall, the American Dream is a factor that everybody aims for but, no
one can achieve.

Work(s) Cited
Abigail, Adams. Letter to John Adams HOLT Literature & Language Arts, Julie Hoover.
United States of America, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston 2003. 109. Print.
Olaudah, Equiano. From the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano HOLT
Literature & Language Arts, Julie Hoover. United States of America.Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston 2003. 54-57. Print.
Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area. Explore Ellis Island. Silos and Smokestacks
National Heritage Area 2005. Web. 18 August. 2014.