As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, much attention is rightfully being paid to the founding documents and ideas that got us here. The Declaration of Independence established a national creed that every person is endowed with unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers established a system of government to protect those rights. These institutions have supported the nation for 250 years, but what will inspire the next 250?
A recent study of National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores shows that only 20-25% of school kids are proficient in American civics. In 2018, only 36% of American adults could pass the citizenship test given to immigrants. Fortunately, organizations such as the National Constitution Center, the Bill of Rights Institute, the Free Society Coalition, and many others are addressing these challenges. Exceptional Americans such as David Rubenstein are preserving these documents, showcasing our founding history, and inspiring Americans to live out our founding ideals. These documents are essential to our national life; we must keep their principles visible in daily life.
At the same time, we need a national story—a vision statement—to inspire people to apply these principles today and preserve them for future generations. My wish for this monumental birthday in America is to rekindle the American Dream as our national and cultural ethos.
The Cultural Power of the American Dream
The Founders were uncertain about the nation’s future. Benjamin Franklin famously warned Americans that they had “a republic, if you can keep it.” The union was young, slavery remained an unresolved issue, and historians estimate only about one-third of colonists actively supported the Revolution. Less than a century after its birth, Americans fought a brutal civil war. And as Colin Woodard showed in his book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, there have been many other conflicts and crises when the nation could have fractured.
Yet 250 years later, the union has proven resilient, in large part because of the spirit of the American Dream. In 1931, James Truslow Adams coined the term in his book, The Epic of America, calling it America’s unique gift to the world:
“[The American Dream] is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man and woman, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement…. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
Although Adams named the dream in 1931, its essence reaches back to the settlers who sought freedom and a better life for themselves and future generations. It animated the Founders’ commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; Frederick Douglass’s call for abolition and equality; Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address; immigrants seeking opportunity; and the nation’s push into new geographic, industrial, and technological frontiers.
Adams gave language to an ethos that had existed since the country’s beginning. It was also distinct from the European culture that many colonists left behind. He illustrated that difference through visitors who noticed the unusual social openness of American life: “I once had an intelligent young Frenchman as guest in New York, and after a few days I asked him what struck him most among his new impressions. Without hesitation he replied, ‘The way that every one of every sort looks you right in the eye, without a thought of inequality.’”
The 2025 Nobel Laureate in Economics Joel Mokyr has argued that societies flourish when they rest on strong cultural foundations. His work shows how cultural attitudes toward commerce, entrepreneurship, and progress helped make the Industrial Revolution possible. The United States inherited some of that culture, but Adams’s book suggests that the American ethos developed in a distinct direction.
For Mokyr, culture is “a set of beliefs, values, and preferences, capable of affecting behavior, that are socially (and not genetically) transmitted and that are shared by some subset of society.” Institutions and culture reinforce one another. In the United States, the American Dream helped shape a culture of freedom, agency, independence, and the belief that ordinary people could pursue better, richer, and fuller lives.
Few countries can claim to be founded so consciously on a cultural narrative. European attitudes changed, as Mokyr, Deirdre McCloskey, and other economic historians have shown, but most European countries long predated those intellectual shifts. America was different: its national identity was tied from the beginning to ideas about liberty, opportunity, and self-directed progress.
Mokyr has also described progress as requiring three beliefs: that progress is possible, desirable, and achievable through a concrete agenda. These assumptions sit at the heart of the definition of the American Dream. In America, that agenda has often centered on individual freedom and free enterprise—not as sufficient answers to every problem, but as necessary conditions for progress.
But the American Dream is about more than freedom or material success. Adams’s definition points toward human flourishing:
“[T]he American Dream that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of merely material plenty, though that has doubtless counted heavily. It has been much more than that. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class. And that dream has been realized more fully in actual life here than anywhere else, though very imperfectly even among ourselves.”
The American Dream became a national ethos aimed at human flourishing—the pursuit of what philosophers have long called the “Good Life.” Adams continues:
“We can look neither to the government nor to the heads of the great corporations to guide us into the paths of a satisfying and humane existence as a great nation unless we, as multitudinous individuals, develop some greatness in our own individual souls. Until countless men and women have decided in their own hearts, through experience and perhaps disillusion, what is a genuinely satisfying life, a ‘good life’ in the old Greek sense, we need look to neither political life nor business leaders.”
We the people must continue defining the American Dream for ourselves, individually and as a society. No party or politician owns it. There can be as many American Dreams as there are Americans, because it is the American expression of human flourishing: a search for meaning, purpose, belonging, and fulfilled potential.
In the United States, that search is supported by positive-sum habits: success is celebrated; excellence is admired; and entrepreneurship remains part of the national imagination. Capitalism is still preferred as the main engine of the American Dream. People remain hopeful about their own futures, and many believe the United States has a positive impact in the world.
Modern Criticism of the American Dream
Why, despite its cultural power and clear realization, must we make the case for the American Dream now, on America’s 250th anniversary? Because we are in danger of taking it for granted.
In the current zeitgeist, it is fashionable to criticize, misrepresent, and abandon the American Dream as politicians, media, and celebrities tell us it’s dead. These claims are sometimes accompanied by survey results, such as an AP-NORC poll that found only one-third of Americans believe the American Dream still exists, or a CNBC poll that said a majority consider it out of reach.
But these polls ask about the concept of the American Dream or its accessibility for others, not about how Americans experience it in their own lives. For example, a poll from WSJ–NORC asked respondents whether “the American Dream—that if you work hard you’ll get ahead—still holds true, never held true, or once held true but does not anymore?”
The issue is framed abstractly, and indeed, they found that less than one-third of Americans said the American Dream still holds true. But what happens when you ask a different question?
At the Archbridge Institute, we have spent seven years asking people directly whether they have achieved the American Dream, are on their way to achieving it, or believe the American Dream is out of reach. In 2026, 67% of Americans said they had achieved the American Dream or are on their way; 33% said it is out of reach.
We have what I call a Rotten Tomatoes problem: politicians, media, and influencers spread negative reviews, but the audience—in this case, a representative pool of Americans—views it favorably when reflecting on their own lives.
Even in our survey, we see that this support drops when you ask people about how achievable the American Dream is for other people. Although 67% have a positive view for their family, only 48% believe most other Americans will succeed. This aligns with another survey we conducted, where we found that 82% of Americans are hopeful about their own futures, while 56% said they were hopeful about the country’s future.
When people draw from their own life experience, they are optimistic, but when they rely on news and narratives peddled by others, they become disheartened.
How the American Dream Unites Us
How can a maligned concept like the American Dream unite us? Because most Americans still agree on many of its core characteristics. The pursuit of a better, richer, and fuller life can extend to all 340 million people who live in the United States.
In a special edition of the Archbridge Institute’s annual American Dream Snapshot for America 250, we found that Americans are more united than divided when it comes to our national institutions, values, and cultural narratives. Americans consistently say the Dream is mostly about freedom and meaning. Eighty percent say freedom of choice in how to live is essential, and 76% say having a good family life is essential. Since 2020, those figures have remained around or above 80%.
Contrary to the caricature that the Dream is mainly about owning a home or becoming wealthy, those goals rank lower on our survey at 51% and 17%, respectively.
More specifically, 64% of Americans believe the American Dream can unite people who come from different backgrounds and hold different views. In fact, many of our survey results are consistent across race, income, and political groups, including that 7 in 10 Americans are patriotic and 8 in 10 believe immigration is a key feature of America’s history, success, and identity.
The 250th anniversary has prompted debates about what it means to be American and what unites us as a nation. Some emphasize assimilation through narrow definitions of Americanness. Others argue that we shouldn’t ask people to assimilate at all.
I came to America 18 years ago after living in several countries around the world. One of the best days of my life happened six years ago when I became a U.S. citizen. I have felt here what President Reagan captured in one of his last speeches:
“You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.”
America has nearly 200 nationalities and more foreign-born residents in absolute terms than any other country. Immigration has been central to America’s success because immigrants self-select into the American story as life and cultural entrepreneurs. Our 2026 survey shows that Americans of all stripes continue to believe immigration is an important part of America’s story and strength.
But what do Americans assimilate to? For me, the answer points to the American Dream. It can mean different things to different people, but we assimilate to the pursuit of a better, richer, and fuller life, regardless of birth or social position. We assimilate to the pursuit of the good life, and to a country whose culture, institutions, and markets give people unusually strong chances to achieve it.
The Promise of the American Dream
The American Dream offers both a redemptive arc and cultural fuel for prosperity. That fuel is provided in every generation by citizens who honor and protect its institutions, immigrants who come here seeking opportunity, entrepreneurs and innovators who find new and better ways to serve humanity, and artists, athletes, and entertainers who inspire others by pursuing their dreams.
My own dream was shaped by the stories of people like Walt Disney, Sam Walton, Madam C.J. Walker, and more recently, by everyday people like Cheikhou Niane, a bathroom attendant who sees the American Dream as belonging to a community, serving others, and making people smile.
Are there past and present challenges to the American Dream? Yes. Is everyone able to achieve it or feel hopeful about it? Not necessarily. But the Dream remains resilient because it is about embracing and overcoming challenges, individually and collectively. Americans still see the United States as a land of opportunity, the Dream as a journey as much as a destination, and virtuous traits at the heart of the American spirit.
Assuming the American Dream is “dead,” turning criticism of America into a national hobby, or taking the Dream for granted risks making its demise a self-fulfilling prophecy. Amid polarization, economic anxiety, technological disruption, and pessimism, Americans should rediscover the Dream as a practical guide for removing barriers to meaningful lives.
At this critical inflection point—the 250th anniversary of our nation—we have a unique opportunity to turn back pessimism about the American Dream. Let us continue to believe in America, pursue dreams of our own, and use the American Dream as the unifying narrative that can help guide the next chapter of our nation’s story.
In the wise words of James Truslow Adams:
“We have a long and arduous road to travel if we are to realize our American dream in the life of our nation, but if we fail, there is nothing left but the old eternal round. The alternative is the failure of self-government, the failure of the common man to rise to full stature, the failure of all that the American dream has held of hope and promise for mankind.”
