American. What is a American? Who is an American? These questions raise some of the most biased answers depending on who you ask. Some will say that an American is a fat, lazy, pig who is selfish, and stupid. Others will say that an American is a strong, hard working, upstanding, and prideful person who looks for the "American Dream." So which is true? I think that both are true to an extent. I believe that an American is a proud, prideful, person but should they be? Do Americans go for the American dream anymore or is that now in the past? Can they even have a chance now? The American definition has changed significantly over two hundred years but has the American spirit? If you asked an American on the street, “What is an American”, what would they say? I shall explore what was an American and what changed over the years. Then what is an American today? Has the American spirit changed for the best or has it rather slumped down into a disgraceful form? To define what an American is, you must see what Americans were like in the past.

So what was an American two hundred years ago and what did they endure to become an American? “Ubi panis ibi patria.” This phrase written by De Crevecoeur in 1782 means, “Where my bread is earned is my country”, in Latin. This quote was the motto for immigrants at the time that moved to America in hopes of a better life. Immigrants moved to America for many reasons: freedom of liberties and belongings, freedom from religious persecution, or to escape famine, and death that awaited in their countries. However this phrase means that immigrants should consider a country to be theirs if hard work gets you bread(money/goods). In many countries at the time people were having trouble surviving. In countries like France, and Poland, work was extremely hard and barely paid anything at all. So people from those countries went to the land of opportunity, America. They wished for the American dream, and they built this country up because of it. You see without immigrants like De Crevecoeur, America would not be, nearly as successful as it is today. It does make you think however, are immigrants even immigrants? Afterall this is a country formed of immigrants, and the people of this country consider this to be their own country. If you ask somebody who moved here from China or Brazil where their country is, wouldn't they say that America is their country? In the past though there has been horrible discrimination against immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 is one example as it did not allow the Chinese to move to America. Then there has even been worse discrimination against the people that originally lived here. The massacre of Wounded Knee is just one of the many massacres committed against American Indians. So if America lets immigrants in freely but tries to get rid of the natives, and after that we almost destroyed their culture through assimilation. So, what was an American back then? An American back then was an immigrant who wanted, like the people who founded America freedom, freedom of Religion, and justice for all. Though some could argue that has changed over the years.

Less than one hundred years ago, people could start to say that the American dream was “changing.” “Americans look to more than the next meal; they look to the future, the long term, a better tomorrow”, this quote by Edward L Hudgins, written fifteen years ago, embodied what America was in the late 20th century. America after WWII was an economic machine that had no remnants of the Great Depression that struck in the 1930s. Industry was booming, people had jobs, and the world economy(with the exception of Germany and France) was soaring. People were embracing the American Dream that was so hard to reach in the Great Depression more than ever before; it was a Golden Age in America. Suburbia in America was expanding at unseen rates, as it was a great time. This quote emulates the change that was happened in the late 1900s, which was the beginning of the era of the middle class and suburbia. Its also very intertwined and maybe to an extent factually based on the quote by de Crevecoeur as the two are very similar because the “bread” of this country is the “next meal.” The Golden Age of America, however, might have sown the seeds of future economic hardship. With what? It was the thing the American Dream might have been based on when it came to industry. Greed. “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.” This rather chilling quote performed by Michael Douglas from the movie Wall Street, shows how people start to think after they enjoy to much “decadence” in the American dream. He also thinks that this greed will save the US and Teldar paper, a company in the movie, which in the movie and in real life did the opposite with Tedlar paper going bankrupt. This leads up to the more important part of the question, “What is an American”; what is today’s definition.

So what are American’s today? “It is as much your country as it is my country”, is quote by Red Skelton in 1969 during his word by word analysis of the pledge of allegiance. This quote unlike all the other quotes, this quote is more versatile, and what I mean by that is the quote could be taken, and can be meant towards different people. A lot of people will look at this and think about the immigrants, and while this is true I view Red Skelton’s quote in a different light. I view his quote to view wealth inequality in America. It is now an undeniable fact that ninety nine percent of America’s wealth is controlled by one percent of American people. Sure all people in America have the same rights and liberties, but same the opportunities? It is a sad fact that people and poverty tend to stay in poverty and are not able to pursue the American dream because they either don’t have the chance or the education. Not only that, but the middle class; like an eroding cliff, is falling into the poverty line. The Great Recession in 2008 did not help either So with all these weights on the American Dream it begs the question, “Is the American Dream even possible anymore.” I personally believe that it is still possible, though significantly harder. So hard that some American’s have just given up.

So an American is a person who has pride for their country and pursues the American Dream but that pride no longer has a place as we have slipped past the point of being looked up to in my opinion. Americans were first immigrants, wanting to come here for the chance of a better life, or better known as the American dream. After the first century of this country’s existence, and WWII, America entered a golden age where decadence and the “overdoing” of the American Dream sew the seeds of economic catastrophe. In recent years Americans still try to pursue the American Dream and sometimes succeed, but most are unable to deal with the burdens on their shoulders already. So what does the future hold as America’s economy recovers and people’s hope in the government returns? Does this mean that Americans will start to achieve the American Dream even more? Possibly giving into the decadence or wealth once more? Will America take years to recover? Who is to say, all I know is the American spirit is still adaptable, even after all of these years and we shall make it.