Irish Immigration to America
Pushes and Pulls
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Treatment and Journey to the United States
Another reason so many of the Irish immigrated was because they were forced by their landlords. Many of the landlords were wealthy Protestants that owned the land and rented it to the poor Catholic majority to farm and live on. When the potato blight broke out many landlords took it upon themselves to send tenants failing to pay rent to America. One example being the Lord Ashburton ship that took 477 Irish immigrants to America in October of 1847. Ships like the Lord Ashburton were full of sickness, for 107 people died on their journey to America. This was one of the many coffin ships that took the Irish from their home country to the United States. When the Irish got the United States they were mistreated and considered unintelligent. This was due to their economic status and their lack of education, and because of this many of the Irish were unemployed or didn't get wages and were given food and rent for their services. The Irish had it tough. Their journey started with struggle in their home country causing them to leave their homes just to be mistreated once they got here.
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Irish Contributions to Modern American Society
Despite the rough start the Irish had in the United States, they ended up accomplishing a lot and contributing greatly to modern society. In 1953 the sons of Irish immigrants, Richard and Maurice McDonald, started a small franchise that he called McDonald's. That small franchise now serves about 1% of the human population daily according to the Societe Gererale (French multinational bank). McDonald's has forever changed the food industry and practically invented the idea of fast food. Richard McDonald himself said "Our whole concept was based on speed, lower prices and volume". He and his brother believed that food should be convenient. McDonald explains an example of what made him come up with the concept of a drive through "guy comes in, you ask him what he wants on his burgers; he says, 'I got to go back to the car to ask my wife.' Wouldn't work".
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