‘But there has also been the American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but 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 for position.’

James Truslow Adams, The American Dream 1931. Adams introduces the phrase ‘the American Dream’ into print in the Epilogue to his book.

Note, pressure on gender and ‘innately’ in this passage

cris cheek, Cleveland