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Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works and essays support the American dream through his ideas of Transcendentalism, free independent thinking, and the privilege to pursue “whatever we want” in this country. One of Emerson’s most famous works, Self-Reliance, focuses on these ideals and that we should focus on our own thoughts and ideas, rather than the thoughts of others.

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https://www.biography.com/writer/ralph-waldo-emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the 19th century, was a big advocate for America to create their own culture and their own style. Emerson wanted America to explore their newfound independence and to explore the freedom of the American Dream, “Emerson believed that after gaining our freedom from British rule, that we should develop our own culture and Ideas separate from Europe”(Biography). After following British culture for so long, Emerson wanted Americans to use their creative and social freedoms to innovate and to create a new movement in America. This new movement focussed around independence and success and was a mold for the American Dream.

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https://www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp

For Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American Dream was having the freedom to be independent and to be able to experiment with new ideas of self-reliance and bettering ourselves. Emerson and the Transcendentalists realized that these freedoms and ideas were not accessible to everyone, “They took progressive stands on women's rights, abolition, reform, and education” (UsHistory). Emerson wanted the American dream to be accessible to everyone, and he was very open about his opposition to slavery and his push for reform.

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https://math.dartmouth.edu/~doyle/docs/self/self.pdf

The American dream is finding success in ourselves, Emerson’s essay ‘Self-Reliance’ talks about how we should be trusting of ourselves and that we should follow the path we want, “Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for” (Self-Reliance). Emerson wants Americans to see their full potential so that they can go out and be prosperous in the things they want to do.

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The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century 

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The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century 

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https://www.bhprsd.org/cms/lib02/NJ01001930/Centricity/Domain/92/The_American_Dream_in_the_Nine.pdf

The American dream to Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American people in the 19th century was to use their newfound freedom to explore new ideas of free thought and individualism, “The American dream of the 19th century was a period of individualism and self-interest, a response to America’s new freedom from British rule” (The American Dream vol. 2). America desired free thought and to be separate from Britain. To Emerson and Americans, this new freedom was the American dream, and they were now living it.

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Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 8th ed. Ed. Nina Baym. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2013. 49-66. Print

Hacht, Anne Marie. “The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century.” Literary Themes For Students, Thomson/Gale, 2007, pp. 509-514.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 5 Apr. 2017, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ralph-waldo-emerson.

"Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy [Ushistory.Org]". Ushistory.Org, 2022, https://www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp. Accessed 21 Feb 2022.