Today's American Dream

Like generations of immigrants before them, the Belarskys came to America in search of freedom - to them the American Dream meant liberty. But Isabel says it promised even more. "The Dream is to work, to have a home, to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building." The American Dream is not written into the constitution but it is so ingrained in the national psyche that it might as well be. Many point to the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence - the "certain unalienable rights" that include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - as the "official" version of the phrase. But it was actually relatively recently - in 1931 - that the term was popularised, when historian James Truslow Adams wrote in The Epic of America that the Dream means "a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12876917

This extract is from a news blog based on what the american dream is today, and who believes in it. De Crevecouer had a vision of the american dream, hard work pays off. Today this feeling still lives on, however not in the citizens that live there, but in the thoughts of the immigrants. Many migrants still believe in the american dream, that they can start with nothing and become rich, happy and own land. The foreigners feel that america promises them a better life, one to escape from the troubles of their own country, as this Russian women explains, she believes that she can cope with being a janitor, then work her way up to owning a building.

De Crevecouer uses James as an example of success. James starts off as a nobody with nothing, and then with hard work and help form others, he becomes a landowner of many acres. This idea of success is ingrained into other societies like Russia or Poland, they feel that america is a country of equality and a land where anyone be a success.

This extract is from a foreigners point of view and therefore cannot give into account a citizen's or an american's belief, because of living and sustaining to local culture the may not share the feeling as the once did.