“Self-Made” is a myth

Mr. Beat looks at what it actually means to be a "self-made" person.

Thanks to @JJMcCullough, @SocialStud, @StefanMilo, @VloggingThroughHistory, @HelennasDen, @HistoryandHeadlines, and Victoria from Something and the Whatevers () for appearing in this video!

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Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessing

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As it turns out, being “self-made” is a uniquely American phrase.

It was on the Senate floor on February 2, 1842, that Henry Clay first coined the phrase “self-made man.” After that, folks began describing a “self-made man” as any person who achieved success independently, without any outside help.

But economic mobility, or the ability of people to move up or down the economic ladder in terms of their wealth, has been steadily declining in the United States for decades.