This is the American Dream, tied up with the Frontier Myth, a narrative that differentiated America from the old colonial powers of Europe, due to the US having to deal with the frontier, a border between civilisation and savagery.
Nineteenth-century academic Frederick Turner argued that the cowboy epitomised the unique culture of the US: rugged independence, violence, individualism, a healthy distrust of authority and a straightforward approach.
Though sometimes disputed, Turner's Frontier Thesis, and hence the myth, became an accepted by intellectuals, popular culture and politicians. Used by Hollywood, senators and university courses, it also fed into an underlying theme - that there was something special about the US.
But the cowboy was never a true historical representation, more a legend developed through fiction and the USA’s need to form an independent national identity.
Nevertheless, the Frontier Myth endured and the independent, self-reliant, no-nonsense frontiersmen soon morphed into the American Dream's post-frontier narrative of laissez-faire, individualists entrepreneurs, continuing the economic expansionism of the Wild West but without hostile natives and natural elements to battle against.
Though the American Dream was mentioned in the nineteenth century, historian James Truslow Adams popularised it in his 1931 book The Epic of America. Since then it has been used and reused to suggest that the US is a place where the hard work is rewarded with riches. Some of this is true. The land-grabs and gold rushes did make some people very wealthy. Fortunes have been made by the likes of Ford or Rockefeller or Gates or Jobs. The US has no formal hierarchy: no aristocracy or monarchy. Anyone can start a business and everyone is entitled to vote. It is a rich country with successful firms, a generally high standard of living and favourable conditions for making money.
Trump and Clinton both drew on the American Dream in their campaigns. Trump's Make America Great Again was an explicit call to reinvigorate this ethos, as was Clinton's speech to the New American Society in 2014, followed by frequent mentions of the American Dream and US exceptionalism on the campaign trail.
But data suggests that opportunities are much better in Scandinavia or Canada. That college-educated Californian's do well but blue-collar Ohioans don't. There are great inequalities and inherited wealth, and class makes a big difference to prospects. In fact, social mobility has been worsening for years.
Like Turner's Frontier Thesis and cowboy stories, the American Dream is a myth, built on reality but enhanced by healthy doses of wishful thinking and rhetoric. The United States is a place of opportunities, but not everyone can make it big and become rich and successful. Many people work very hard but find that the American Dream is a fantasy and no more than that.