①所謂的美國夢（American Dream），是一種相信衹要在美國經過努力不懈的奮鬥便能獲緻更好生活的理想，亦即人們必須透過自己的工作勤奮、勇氣、創意、和决心邁嚮繁榮，而非依賴於特定的社會階級和他人的援助。通常這代表了人們在經濟上的成功或是企業傢的精神。許多歐洲移民都是抱持著美國夢的理想前往美國的。儘管有些人批評美國夢過度強調了物質財富在衡量勝利和快樂上扮演的角色，但許多美國人的確認為，這種獲緻成功的機會在世界上其他國傢是找不到也並不存在的。因為與其他大多數國傢不同的是，在美國擁有的經濟自由相當多，政府扮演的角色相當有限，這使得美國的社會流動性極大，任何人都有可能透過自己的努力邁嚮巔峰。從美國獨立直至19世紀末期，廣大的土地都無人居住和擁有，任何有心人都可以加以占據並投資和開墾。而到了工業革命時期，美國龐大的自然資源和先進的工業技術則使得快速的社會流動變的可能，而且這種趨勢仍在一天一天的增加中。
① the so-called American Dream , is a belief that as long as the United States after a hard struggle will be able to achieve the ideal of a better life, that is, people have to work through their own hard work, courage, creativity and determination to move towards Prosperity, rather than rely on specific social classes and other assistance. This is usually on behalf of the people in the economic success or entrepreneurial spirit. Many European immigrants hold the American dream of the ideal of the United States. Despite some criticism of the American dream of excessive emphasis on material wealth and happiness in the measure of victory on the role, but many Americans really believe that the success of such an opportunity in the world is not found in other countries does not exist. Because the majority of other countries, in the United States has considerable economic freedom, the role of government is limited, making the U.S. a great social mobility, a person may have through their own efforts towards the peak. Independence from the United States until the end of the 19th century, large areas of land are uninhabited and have no people can be occupied and investment and land reclamation. By the time the Industrial Revolution, the United States huge natural resources and advanced industrial technology is making rapid social mobility may change, and this trend is still increasing day by day.
依據歷史學家的說法，美國快速的經濟發展和工業擴張並非衹是因為美國的自然資源豐富，更是因為所有人都有機會藉由自己的奮鬥獲取財富。美國夢成為了吸引世界各地人民移民美國的主要原因—無論過去或現在。在今天，每年有超過一百萬的人成為美國公民，是世界上最受歡迎的移民地點。