Many people credit James Truslow Adams for popularizing the idea of the American Dream. Adams described in his book that the American dream consists of a life that’s richer and fuller for everyone, with an opportunity for everyone with the ability to achieve things. Yet the concept of a better land existed long before Adams. In 1630, John Winthrop gave a sermon to Puritan colonists as they sailed to Massachusetts. Even though Winthrop never used the word “dream,” he told in great detail of his vision of a society in which everyone would have a chance to succeed, as long as they worked together and followed certain biblical teachings. Eventually the dream of opportunity evolved in the colonies as a God-given right. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson
