The American Dream

It is the intent of this paper to prove that the "American Dream" can

best be explained as a "city upon a hill." "Ciity upon a hill" meaning

being above and superior over those below. The Civil War, the imperialistic

race of the 19th century, the Korean War, the KKK, and the Gulf War are all

examples of the "American Dream" of superiority playing a part in American

History. Each American has a different idea of this superiority, but

nonetheless strive to achieve it, whatever it may be in.

The Civil War which split the United States, was a clash of two

aspects of approaching the "American Dream" in a young America. Both sides

felt their idea's and philosophies were superior to those of the opposing

side and therefore would benefit the country more and make it superior.

Both North and South wanted to better the country to have it achieve the

"American Dream". Unfortunately, each side had a different perspective on

how to approach it. Slavery was a major issue, the North against, the

South pro. The disagreement on slavery lead to difficulty in the issue of

Westward expansion. Both agreed to it, but whether to admit them as free

or slave states was where the split occurred. The compromise of 1850

stated that California enters free, and New Mexico and Utah decided on

their own which is giving them more state rights in which the South heavily

supported. This compromise did not satisfy each side fully. The issue of

State rights intensified by the issue of slavery because the Southern

states felt they had the right to decide on their own about Slavery without

Federal intervention. It seems the Southern states felt that the "American

dream" was out of their reach because they felt powerless and inferior with

the Central government. When the American revolution was fought to break

from Britain, the Southern States thought they would be treated as

sovereign and free. With the State's limited power, they felt as if the

Federal government would become a monarchy. The Northern States wanted the

"American dream" achieved for the whole country to be industrial, anti-

slavery, and very federalist. Upon these institutions they planned to make

the U.S a superior nation in the world. The South wanted to achieve the

same ultimate goal for the U.S but with agricultural, pro- slavery, and

states sovereignty institutions. These are the differences between both

sides in achieving "the American Dream." In order to resolve the conflict

of interests, North and South had to go to war to prove superiority thus

proving which side is "the ciity upon the hill" in which the losing side

would follow.

During the time of Imperialism in the 19th century, the U.S wanted to

expand worldwide and strive for the lead in the "imperialistic race." In

1871, the U.S and Canada signed the Washington treaty meaning that the U.S

recognized Canada as an independent dominion. Any schemes to forcefully

annex Canada and to unite the North American continent under the U.S flag

had been rejected. The U.S could not expand any further in North America

and had to look at other parts of the world for expansion. At the time,

there were many other nations looking to expand its