The American Dream

Introduction

The historian, James Truslow Adams, was the first person to define the concept of an American Dream in 1931. In his book, “The Epic of America”, he argued the American Dreams is:

“…that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve the fullest stature of which they are capable of, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the circumstances of birth or position.”

This optimistic sense of freedom and equality has its origins in the colonial setting of “The Scarlet Letter”, but the concept continued to evolve significantly when Hawthorne wrote the novel in the middle of the 19th century.

Hawthorne’s “sweet moral blossom” exposes some of the failures of the American Dream but offers hope it can succeed.

Bond Slaves

The new colonies in America needed to attract lots of workers to secure the future of the settlements. Many impoverished Europeans were eager to cross the Atlantic in hope of a “richer” life, but they were unable to afford the expensive passage.

To solve the problem, a system of indentured servitude was developed. Wealthier settlers paid for their servants’ transportation and lodging if they agreed to work for a number of years specified in the contract.

Almost half the early European immigrants to the Thirteen Colonies were indentured servants so it is no surprise that Hawthorne includes three references to “bond-slaves”. In “The Marketplace”, the writer mentions how a “sluggish bond-girl” might be publicly punished on the scaffold and a “seven-years’ slave” answers the door to “The Governor’s Mansion”.

Interestingly, it takes Dimmesdale seven years to publicly admit to his affair – the typical length of a bond-slave covenant. Perhaps Hawthorne is suggesting the American Dream of independence and self-determination can be achieved. However, this moment comes just before Dimmesdale dies so that optimism is severely deflated.

The third reference is to Hester when, in “The New-England Holiday”, Hawthorne describes the protagonist as a “lifelong bond-slave”. If immigration to America was a quest for freedom, it seems she represents a failure of that dream because she is always indentured to the Puritan colony and their “stern” and “strict” rules.

Religious Freedom

The Puritans were a group of Christians who wanted to take a simpler and stricter approach to their faith. They rejected the ostentations of the Catholic church and the authority of the papacy, but they were also unwilling to recognise the divine authority of the King of England.

The first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, was determined to establish “a city upon a hill” in this New World where the Puritan settlers could express their religious beliefs closer to God.