“Prosperity,” the essence of the American dream was conceived long before the narrative of “American Dream” was clearly articulated; and long before “America,” as a nation, emerged.
Interestingly, the nature of prosperity as conceptualized by Anne Bradstreet and her Puritan community was more spiritual than material. They valued godly devotion over goods.

Colonial literature was noted for their deference to God as the one whose hands controlled all matters. The unifying theme of the literature of that era was the belief in a providential God who rewarded devotion with blessings and wickedness with maledictions. The Puritans were outstanding for their ultra-conservative approach to the Christian faith.

 During the colonial era, the dominant American voice in literature was that of the Puritans. To find the American voice, therefore, is to find the Puritan voice. Although the Puritans represented only a small percentage of the American population, their influence stems from strict interpretation and adherence to scriptural “truths.” The Puritans were particularly outstanding as a group that valued education. It is no wonder that they produced a reasonable amount of literature that still provide insight into their beliefs and practices.

Being a Christian religious movement, the Puritans had God at the center of their beliefs. They also had an interesting interpretation of scripture, one that they tied with colonized America as the modern equivalent of the biblical “promised land.” This new frontier called America was seen as a nation through which God’s will for mankind would have a modern fulfillment. American dream and American exceptionalism were beliefs that the Puritans espoused. They make that connection their strong beliefs in predestination. They believed that the discovery of America and their arrival in it did not happen by mere coincidence, but that it was a plan that God had made for them.

Because the Puritans hinged all their beliefs around a providential God, the realization of American Dream was not separate from the realization of God’s will for the colonizers. American Dream was their ultimate destiny. The Puritans also interpreted reality from a linear binary perspective. Everything that they approved of was Godly and righteous, while those that they disapproved of were ungodly and evil. As a result, any form of misfortune was a sign of divine disapproval, perhaps divine punishment. On the other hand, spiritual prosperity was a sign of God’s approval, which translates to the achievement of the American Dream.

Because the earliest settlers also saw themselves as wandering Christians in the wilderness, the deference to God was widely accepted as their normal. American voice was also, to a large extent, a deferential voice. SO deferential it was incompatible with freewill. Americans of the colonial era had no voice other than the voice of God. That much can be gleaned from the work of Anne Bradstreet. Her total submission to the will of God can be seen through her writings. In the face of adversity, such as the death of a loved one or the loss of her possessions due to fire. Rather than mourn her loss, she resigns to the idea that God could take some of her possessions in order to teach her to appreciate the things she had.

Interestingly, the interpretation of signs through which God’s blessings or wrath had some social curve to it. Those at the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder adhered strictly to that norm. But those of the higher socioeconomic class found a way of deflecting their misfortunes to mean an attack by a witch, rather than a manifestation of God’s disapproval.