California Dreaming...

Americans reinvented the “American Dream” of seeking opportunities and obtaining financial wealth and retitled it the “California Dream.” While the American Dream is celebrated as being a new found method for immigrants to escape the financial imprisonment of the English Government and a way to capitalize on opportunities for education advancement, land ownership and freedom, the California Dream is erroneously labeled as being solely about materialistic desires and ambitions. Those who ventured to the new land of California sought very similar opportunities of wealth, land and freedom.

 

Freedom from racial or ethnic prejudice also motivated settlers in California just as the settlers shifted to American. African Americans ventured to the new land in search of racial autonomy. While the bigotry was not exempt in California, African Americas had a greater opportunity at acceptance.

Between the years of 1860 and 1960 the population in California soared due to the legendary Gold Rush. Innumerable Americans flocked to the Golden State in search of nuggets of potential. “The prospect of seemingly effortless riches led Americans to move mountains in pursuit of the dream.”[i] As eloquently stated by The American Dream author, Jim Cullen, “the California gold rush is the purest expression if the Dream of the Coast in American history.”[ii] The gold rush was an expression of the dream because it was an illusionary prospect of fame and riches that was only discovered by a few but sought after by the masses. Similar to their ancestors traveling from foreign land, Americans hoping to gain wealth packed up their life on the East and moved to the Coastal frontier.

The initiation and expansion of the railroads brought another similar aspect between the American and California Dreams, the ability to own land. While the American dream did produce on the promise to own land, the California dream intensified that promise by offering land in warm climates and beautiful landscapes. Even the threats of earthquakes could not stop Americans from wanting to leave the cold flat lands of the East for the coastal views and rolling hills of the West. Farmers were captivated by the potential of plant multiple crops a season as had been achieved by some aggressive businessmen. As with the other aspects of the California Dream, the enticement was the possibility of gaining much while sacrificing or working little.

With the introduction of car ownership, the natural instinct of the American culture to be materialistic was cultivated and ultimately matured. Americans began to shape their identity around what type of vehicle they owned and even made strenuous sacrifices to maintain the ownership of their vehicle. This habit was conveyed to the current American culture where the idea of purchasing a car outside of one’s means or leasing a car to obtain quickly what one does not want to save for is a predominate approach for owning a car.    

 

 

 It should be no surprise that the California Dream was inclusive of material attainment since the foundation of America involved the same priorities. The American culture was founded on principles of material threshold and that principle has been woven into our culture and our values intrinsically. As a California native having lived in more than 15 cities throughout, I sincerely love this state and could not see myself living anywhere else. I am lured by the same characteristics of beautiful weather, great land and financial opportunities. I wholeheartedly agree with every love song written for the state and I can only hope we learn to preserve the land and manage the state’s resources responsibly so the beauty and potential of the state can forever remain.

 

For additional information regarding the California Gold Rush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6DaUtrM-Q&feature=youtu.be
 

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[i] Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. New York: Oxford, 2003. Page 170

[ii] Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. New York: Oxford, 2003. Page 170

American Opportunistic Culture

American culture has always been Opportunistic in nature, through the pursuit of happiness incorporated into the American Dream to the Upward Mobility movement and even expanding to home and car ownership. America was founded and populated by those who were first interested in the new land based on the opportunity promised and an improved life for one’s family. “From the very beginning, then, a notion that one’s children might have a better life has been a core component of the American Dream”[1]. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the people who inhabit the land continued on the journey seeking greater opportunities.  

“By 1900 the automobile was clearly emerging as an entrepreneurial opportunity”[2]. By 1903, with the designs and manufacturing of cars, the opportunities available to the American people reached greater pinnacles. Having a car allowed people to travel and visit those in other areas that they would not normally have access to. Those living in the city and rural areas had faster access to one another and were able to merge the two cultures by utilizing the opportunity that having a vehicle provided. Automobiles also allowed for more efficient health care, enabling “physicians to make their rounds more efficiently” [3] and provided the means for families who would have to travel for days to seek medical assistance an opportunity at better health and probability for overcoming illness. Economically, owning a car helped farmers to expand their territory of sales and benefit financially from the ease of access created by cars.

When Henry Ford became successful at manufacturing cars, in the American way, he immediately saw an opportunity to improve and advance on the product and continued to do so through numerous designs. Through the design of the Model T, Henry Ford allowed the opportunities to be available widely across the nation.

Ford Model T   

 

Henry Ford

 

In the 1920s Walter Chrysler continued the opportunistic approach to life by searching for ways to make his cars for luxurious. Chrysler identified and implemented improvements that led to an advanced design and a high compression engine[4]. Chrysler made “the first modern car made not for rural farmers, but for the now predominant urban America”[5]. Chrysler was innovative and opportunistic and those characteristics made him legendary.

The quest for opportunity to advance the designs extended into the 1930s with the development of extreme luxury cars such as the Speedster and the Cadillac V-16. Cars became glamorous and offered custom bodywork[6].

Image of a Cadillac V-16

 

Americans may have taken to cars “passionately – and perhaps as irrationally – as they did to houses”[7], but the passion was one for the opportunities they had envisioned becoming a reality. Knowing that cars were initially for the wealthy and to promote the opportunity to own a vehicle, the cost of cars became less expensive over time providing evidence that the core of owning a car was based on the opportunity it allowed, not the materialism from owning one. The American culture was founded on opportunistic dreams and became a nation that continuously sought opportunities. This trait is part of what allows the American culture to be so distinct and prominent.

For additional references, please view a video regarding cars in the 1920s using the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uZz3X3i2HA

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[1]  Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. New York: Oxford, 2003. Page 23

 

[2]Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 54

[3] Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 26

[4] Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 64

[5] Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. Page 65

[6] Heitmann, John. The Automobile and American Life. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009.Page 103

[7]Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. New York: Oxford, 2003. Page 150