The Dream of Progress

The American Dream of Progress

People have been hoping for a better future since the beginning of history. It is deep in our subconscious. We dream about a better future and have nightmares about a dystopian one. However, the dream has changed over the years.

One of the first written examples of the power of hope was Abraham and the Jewish covenant. Historians think that Abraham lived in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. According to the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, God formed a covenant with Abraham and promised his people "a land flowing with milk and honey." The hope of God's promised land had to be strong enough to persuade Abraham's people to leave the city of Ur and endure the hardships of walking over 2,200 miles to Canaan. This choice could not have been easy. At the time, Ur had over 100,000 inhabitants and was the capital of a wealthy empire. It was considered a place of beauty with many fine palaces, temples, statues, law courts, and markets. The city was in an excellent location to profit from international trade. It had a port on the Euphrates River that gave its ships access to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. However, despite the temptation of staying in Ur, the hope of the promised land was stronger. Abraham and his people packed their goods and chattels onto carts and left for Canaan. From Ur, they traveled 700 miles northwest to what is now the border of Iraq, then a further 700 miles up into Syria before turning down and trekking 800 miles into Egypt and finally Canaan. Getting to Canaan was only the start. The covenant committed them and future generations to a relationship with God in which they would worship the one true God, follow his path, and build a nation. For thousands of years, this relationship has defined Jewish identity and helped them endure many hardships. To this day, the 'promised land' symbolizes hope for the future.

Christianity offered a different hope. In the early years, Christianity was the faith of the poor and powerless. Its believers lived lives of extreme poverty and suffering. Almost everyone thought that poverty was a fact of life and always would be. So Christianity shifted the focus from this world to the next. It offered hope of spiritual salvation and happiness in heaven. The offer worked. It attracted people and was a crucial part of the Church's growth. Over a thousand years later, the same message still provided hope to believers. Medieval Christians saw "earthly life as a 'vale of tears,' a period of trial and suffering, an unpleasant but necessary preparation for the afterlife where alone man could expect to enjoy happiness."

Hope changed again in the 17th and 18th centuries and this time it incorporated the modern idea of progress. People were increasingly aware that they knew more than earlier generations. They could see this in the growing number of books and the length of bookshelves. Until 1450 AD, books were expensive to make and highly valued. A single book could be worth as much as a farm. There were very few manuscript books, and they were typically locked away in chests. Only wealthy institutions, such as cathedrals, could afford enough of them to need even a few shelves. The cost of books created a problem. Institutions like cathedrals wanted to use the books they had for teaching and study. However, those same books were a tempting target for thieves. The solution many churches across Europe adopted was to chain books to the shelves. If you go to Hereford Cathedral in England, you can see one of the few surviving medieval chain libraries.  The first thing that strikes you is how few manuscript books there are.  Even a wealthy organization like Hereford Cathedral could only afford 229 manuscripts, and they filled two bays of shelves. Fortunately for the cathedral and everyone else, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type printing in circa 1450. His innovation spread rapidly across Europe. The cost of books started to fall, and Hereford added another 1,500 printed books to the chained library. Eventually, book prices fell to the point where it was not worth chaining them. The chains disappeared, and libraries grew in size and number. By the 18th century, if you visited a large library, you could walk along the shelves and marvel at the many thousands of books. You could see knowledge was increasing; it was literally in front of your eyes.

The quality of knowledge was also increasing. People started to appreciate that they had a deeper understanding of the natural world than earlier generations. In 1597, Francis Bacon said, “knowledge itself is power.” He was making a statement about all knowledge. However, knowledge that enables you to do things and change the world is particularly powerful. Newton's theory of motion and gravity is an outstanding example. Ever since Newton's time, people have used his theories to solve practical problems and do things. The most famous application was probably the moonshot when NASA used Newton's laws to guide the Apollo astronauts to the moon and back. In the 18th century, people could not have anticipated just how valuable Newton's breakthrough would prove. However, they did recognize that his theories were a significant step forward and gave them more control over nature. People started to visualize a clockwork universe. They realized the natural world was not incomprehensible but followed laws.

Newton's work demonstrated that people could uncover nature's laws and they could use their knowledge to change the world. Anything seemed possible. The mix of hope, radical ideas, and injustice sparked change. In 1775, the unfairness of taxation without representation triggered American Independence. A year later, the thirteen American colonies went to great lengths to boldly state their founding shared ideals.  In the Declaration of Independence, they wrote, "all men are created equal" and have the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Soon after, the cry of the French revolution was liberty, equality, and fraternity.

What made the Declaration of Independence different was that it explicitly brought together Englightenment ideals and the hope for a better life in this world. The Declaration was credible. People could believe a democratic nation would be a land of opportunity. After all, there would be no king to rob them through unfair taxes and laws. They knew they would have to work hard. However, they had the dream of progress to sustain them. For many, the new formula worked. Their hard work paid off, and they did create a better life for themselves and their children. In doing so, they created stories that inspired others to follow their example. The American dream was underway.

From the start, there was a massive contradiction between the words and reality. The Declaration said all men are created equal. However, inequality split the new nation. Of the thirteen states, eight were slave states. The founding fathers left a critical unanswered question. What did they mean by "all men are created equal?" Their writing showed they thought democracy was built on two fundamental principles: one man, one vote, and all men are equal in front of the law. But, they did not define the term "men." In 1790, the United States Congress provided an answer. It passed the Naturalization Act and, in doing so, limited citizenship to "free white person[s]." If you are generous to the founding fathers, then you can view the Declaration as aspirational. They wanted everyone to vote and have equal protection by the law. However, as Bismarck said, "Politics is the art of the possible..." So the founders declared the goal but implemented a compromise because they knew the southern states would not free their slaves. Alternatively, you can judge what the founders meant by how the 1790 Congress voted.

Either way, by the 1850s slavery, had grown into a fractious issue. America was negotiating for, purchasing, and conquering new lands across the continent. The nation's rapid growth created tension. Should the new territories become "free" or "slave" states? The slaveholding interests of the South saw the new lands as a great opportunity. However, the Northern States were fundamentally opposed to any expansion of slavery. At first, the two sides appropriated the new lands equally. However, between 1858 and 1861, the three states that joined the Union all became free. This development shifted power towards the North and was an explosive issue in the South. Arguments and politics failed, and in 1861 seven slave states formed the Confederacy and seceded from the Union. The remaining states saw this as an act of treason. Their response was war. After four years and many casualties, the Union defeated the Confederacy and broke its power and influence. To consolidate its victory, the North created the 13th Amendment, and it became law in all the states in 1865. At last, slavery was illegal in the whole of the United States.

The civil war left much of the South devastated. It could no longer stop the North from reconstructing the Union as it wanted to. Naturally, the North wanted to settle the issue of slavery once and for all. To do this, it amended the Constitution three times. The first of these amendments outlawed slavery, the second guaranteed citizenship to former slaves, and the third gave them voting rights.  The former slave states could not change constitutional law. However, they could pass state laws that undermined it. After reconstruction ended, the southern states were free to elect whomever they chose. Many former slaveholders and people who approved of slavery were elected. They controlled every Southern legislature and did all they could to reverse the effect of the three amendments. For 100 years, they passed legislation to disenfranchise, segregate, and discriminate against former slaves and their children.

Despite the burden of injustice and violence, most African-Americans still believed in the ideals of the Declaration and the American Dream. They wanted their constitutional rights. The struggle came to a head in the 1950s and 1960s. One of the significant events was the 1963 march on Washington.  At the end of the rally, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 demonstrators listen to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. The words were so powerful that they became symbolic of the whole civil rights movement. However, they were not the words King had intended. Towards the end of his prepared speech, Mahalia Jackson shouted, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" Then, without missing a beat, he described his dream of freedom and equality.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today."

This part of his speed stood out. The words had a powerful emotional appeal combining hope for a better future for all men with hope for an end to racism. People started calling it the "I have a dream" speech. It captured the moment and helped persuade legislators to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The dream of progress has spread around the world. What started as a "peculiarly Western faith" has taken root in two of the world's largest and oldest cultures: India and China. For almost all of their history, these civilizations have valued tradition, continuity, and stability. Like medieval Europe, they believed poverty was an unchangeable fact of life. This belief started to change as the rise of Western power forcefully spread the idea of progress.  It became clear to countries around the world that something was different. The balance of power was shifting. Despite their small size, European countries had better military technology, and they kept improving that technology. It was a devastating combination for the people on the receiving end. Old empires were either destroyed or threatened. All countries had to adapt or die. Part of that process was trying to understand what had changed in the West. Different countries came up with different answers. For a long time, only Japan was able to replicate the West's progress. It looked like progress would not spread. For many people worldwide, the rise of the West made their lives worse, not better. They were on the wrong side of a competitive struggle. Many factors appeared to conspire to lock them in poverty. However, television gave people hope. For the first time, people in the underdeveloped world could see the American Dream. They could compare their lives to the lives of the Americans on Television. What they saw had two effects. Firstly, it created desire. People wanted what they saw. Secondly, it showed them that they could do the same. It gave them hope. If ordinary Americans can make a better life for themselves, then anyone can.

The hope for a better future is now a significant force in both China and India. The dream is driving the most extensive social development the world has ever seen. In China, millions have migrated from the countryside to the cities for more money and better conditions. The process has already lifted hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty. Over the next two decades, pundits think the number of middle-class Chinese will grow to more than twice the USA population. India is a good way behind China, but it is on a similar path with a similarly large population. Before the rise of the West, China and India were the titans of the world economy. Now both countries expect to become economic titans again. However, there are significant differences. The Chinese Dream and the American Dream might be similar for the people in each country. But at the national level, the two countries are very different. The founding fathers built the United States on the principles of liberty, democracy, equality. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party formed modern China as a communist, single-party, autocratic state.

It is ironic that just as India and China embrace the dream of progress, America has growing doubts and fears. The near certainty that the future would be better has gone. Many Americans fear the possibility that their children will be less well off than they are and have a shorter life expectancy. During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump campaigned using the slogan, "Sadly the American dream is dead. But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." He won the election, so perhaps this shows that many agreed that the dream was dead.

What do you think? Should we still believe in the dream of progress?