The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation

The author discusses historian James Truslow Adams’s book The Epic of America and how it popularized the term “American Dream.” The book describes the American Dream as the central idea governing opinion about the US at home and abroad. Cullen notes that the American Dream has never been universally understood or defined in the same way even though many US citizens take its existence and inherent goodness for granted.

Despite the Puritans’ reputation for being unpleasant and intolerant, the author respects their vast ambition, which is fundamental to understanding what it means to be an American. Although the term “Puritan” itself refers to varied people and experiences, it generally points to an extremely disciplined Protestant faith that derived from—but didn’t necessarily remain within—the Anglican Church. For example, separatist Puritans like William Bradford left the Anglican Church altogether because of its perceived corruption. Compared to other sects like the Anabaptists and the Quakers, the Puritans believed in moderate reform. Internal debates about how reform was to be carried out aside, “this faith in reform became the central legacy of American Protestantism and the cornerstone of what became the