The American Dream[1]

7/31/2019 The American Dream[1]

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The American dream

Of Mice and Men


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What is the American Dream?

America has always been seen as the Land of

Opportunity, partly because immigrants from

Europe saw it as a place of freedom, a place to

begin a new life, a place for real possibilities andwealth for all.

This belief in America as a country where

ordinary people could create a better life for

themselves is often referred to as The AmericanDream


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From the 17th century, where the 1st settlers

arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in

America

People went there to escape from persecution,

to make a new life for themselves and their

families.

For many the dream became a nightmare.

The horrors of slavery, of the American Civil

War, the growth of slums and the corruption of

the government led to many shattered hopes For many the dream ended with the Wall Street

crash in 1929.


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This was the start of the Great Depression

that would affect the whole world during

the 1930s.

The dream did survive for individuals.

1000s made their way west to California

to escape farmlands of the mid-west.

George and Lennie dreamed of their Little

house and a couple of acres.

The growing popularity of the cinema was

the last American Dream for many.


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Declaration of Independence, 1776

We hold these truths to be self-evident

that all men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their creator with certain

unalienable rights, that among these arelife, liberty and pursuit of happiness


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c ar xon: pres en aNomination Acceptance Speech,

1968 My fellow Americans, the long dark night

for America is about to end. The time has

come for us to leave the valley of despairand climb the mountain so that we may

see the glory of the dawn a new day for

America, a new dawn for peace and

freedom in the world.


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Transcript of the Nicolay Draft of

the Gettyburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our

fathers brought forth, upon this continent,

a new nation, conceived in liberty, and

dedicated to the proposition that all menare created equal That nation, shall have

a new birth of freedom, and that

government of the people for the people,shall not perish from the earth.


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The pedestal of the Statue of

Liberty. Emma Lazarus: 1903

Give me your tired, your poor, your

huddled masses yearning to breathe free/

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore/

Send thee, the tempest-tossed, to me: I lifta lamp beside the golden door.


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Your task. Speaking and listening

Working in groups of three:

Research The American Dream in order to

make a Powerpoint presentation to the

rest of the group.

Images, information and scenes from

films, magazines, literature, political

speeches, music and song.

To be given Monday 16th January


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Documents

The American Dream[1]