The Colonial take on the American Dream

The Puritans fled Europe in hopes to reinstate the simplistic beginnings of Christianity. Undertones of the American Dream can be found in this longing for purification of the Church of England (Belasco 111). However, as these people “simplified” the teachings of the Bible in their new American settlements, they inevitably created a severely conformist society with unrealistic standards. During this period, the American Dream and religious conviction went hand in hand.

Anne Bradstreet, the first published American poet, was a member of this society. In her poem “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild”, she struggles with her Puritan religion when her loved one dies. When her faith is tested, she is hesitant to accept that this is God’s will and that He wanted this baby to die; this is evident when she admits that “time brings down what is both strong and tall” but wonders why certain parts “have so short a date” (Bradstreet 11 and 12). However, the poems ends with her accepting that it “is by his hand alone that guides nature and fate”; this state of spiritual correction perfectly exemplifies the societal ideal of religious conformity (Bradstreet 14). The belief was that religion served as a sense of hope for every aspect of Puritan life. In reality, the suppression of emotional expression that this culture enforced caused a constant state of panic. This underlying hopelessness questions whether the Colonial Era’s American Dream was detrimental to the people of the time.