Definition: The belief that anyone in the US has the chance to be successful and happy if they work hard enough in order to gain the opportunity for upwards mobility.
Quote:
“[The] American Dream [is] the dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”
~ James Truslow Adams uses the term for the first time
It is important to know how the American Dream developed and how the American character was shaped through the Frontier.
The Frontier was a boundary line between the settlement area (on the east coast) and the still unexplored territory (on the west coast), which was constantly moving westwards. The westward expansion was induced through the so-called “Manifest Destiny”.
Manifest Destiny was a 19th century concept which propagated the idea that Americans were destined by God to expand across the continent due to three main reasons: first of all the special virtues of the American people and their institutions (capitalism and democracy), then the mission of the United States to redeem and remake the West in the image of agrarian America, and finally the irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty.
Manifest Destiny was not an official government policy, but according to an American journalist, who used the term for the first time, it would be the Americans’ determination to spread across the whole country. The belief that it would be God’s will to expand is based on the Puritans’ belief. Since this idea of expansion was propagated in the media, the concept became a popular political mindset, which most of the settlers worked towards. Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, is based on the idea that the United States are destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent and it was used in the context of the Mexican-American War (1846-48) by annexation advocate Cazneau in his publication of “Annexation” (1845), an article that appeared in an issue of the Democratic Review, the editor of which being John Louis O’Sullivan. The term was first used to justify the war with Mexico to promote the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Country to the United States. The notion of ‘Manifest Destiny‘ (1845) became intertwined with the formation of American identity and the approach of the US towards foreign nations.
With the discovery of gold and raw materials in western states, the number of people moving towards the west coast increased. Moving westwards and the settlers’ desire to own bigger pieces of land resulted in many conflicts with Native Americans who claimed large areas as hunting grounds. The Native Americans were forced to break their cultural habits like wandering and hunting; they were forced to remain in smaller territories and to stick to farming. Nevertheless, some tribes like the Sioux, Cheyenne or the Apache opposed the requirements, which caused the Indian Wars between the 1860s and 1880s. The majority of Native Americans assimilated and became Christians, however, some still hold on to their tribal identities, culture and language.
Exploring the path to the Pacific landscapes was an abstract reality for the American settlers. They had to create tools and household implements for food, and crossed the Rocky Mountains while trying to survive in the wilderness. To sum up, the frontier was viewed as the meeting point between “savagery” [dt.: Wildheit] and civilization.
In Frederick Jackson Turner’s document “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, he tries to clarify that American history as well as the American character were shaped through the frontier. Experiencing this set of challenges through the Frontier was what distinguished the USA from Europe.
Quote:
“That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness […], that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom - these are traits of the frontier”
~ excerpt from “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893)
[dt.: “Diese Rauheit und Stärke kombiniert mit Scharfsinn und Neugier […], dieser dominante Individualismus, der für das Gute und das Böse arbeitet, und damit jene Auftriebskraft und Überschwänglichkeit, die mit der Freiheit einhergeht – das sind Merkmale des Frontiers”]
So, the Frontier does not just mean a boundary line, but also a set of challenges which Americans had to manage. Westward expansion and coping with these challenges meant the development of a new American identity.
In Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay, it is said that the Americans buoyancy, “coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness” formed the American character.
The 19th century belief in ‘Manifest Destiny’, however, does not only let us draw conclusions about the Americans’ self-perception of themselves as a superior nation, it was also used to justify wars with other nations. The mentality of ‘Manifest destiny’, and a self-proclaimed superiority drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was not only used to justify the war with Mexico but it was also used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans from their homes (cf. Indian Removal Act of 1830 under President Jackson and the “Trail of Tears” in the 1830s).
However, once the entire continent was settled, the US needed a new type of Manifest Destiny. The significance of the frontier is thoroughly discussed by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in his seminal text “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893), a speech delivered at the American Historical Association meeting at the World’s Columbia Fair in Chicago. In his speech, Turner argues that the frontier moving westward shaped American democracy, national unity, economic development, and the notion of (rugged) individualism. He explains that the American frontier is very different from European frontiers. The Americans living close to the American frontier have to accept and adapt to the conditions of the wilderness, but they transform the wilderness little by little, the outcome being uniquely American: “here is a new product that is American”. According to Turner, the frontier has come to mean a “steady movement away from the influence of Europe, a steady growth of independence on American lives”. In his text, he argues that the first period of American history has closed with the closing of the frontier. He hints at the idea of the US needing a new frontier: “American energy will continually demand a wider field for its exercise”.
As Turner hinted, the arrival of the frontier at the Pacific Ocean forced the US to find a new type of Manifest Destiny. This took the form of colonization, with the new frontier being the Pacific. At the end of the 19th century, missionaries, businessmen and imperialists started “turning […] the eyes outward” (General Mahan). While the Monroe Doctrine (1823) by President James Monroe still proclaimed an isolationist attitude towards Europe and emphasized that European power should stay out of the Americas, the US involvement in the Spanish-American War, the so-called “splendid little war”, in 1898, as well as numerous annexations and the purchase of islands in the Pacific, already marked a pivotal departure from its former isolationist attitude and policies of non-entanglement. The old imperialist nation of Spain was replaced by the new imperialist nation of the United States of America. While his predecessor President Cleveland had respected a policy of strict neutrality, President McKinley declared war against Spain when the USS Maine was sunk in Havana, Cuba.
In this context, we may also consider "The Roosevelt Corollary," (1904) an addition to the Monroe Doctrine designed by President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt explains that the US would intervene in “flagrant cases of wrong doing”, with the US functioning as “international police”. While the Monroe Doctrine had sought to prevent European intervention, the Roosevelt Corollary was used to justify US intervention all over the world. The self-perception of the US as a superior civilization, in combination with the idea of applying Darwinist theory to international conflicts, created strategic, political and ideological movements towards imperialism. The Roosevelt Corollary served as justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. President Theodore Roosevelt's assertive approach to Latin America and the Caribbean has often been characterized as the "Big Stick," and his policy came to be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.