The American Dream

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The American Dream. This concept is well known as the picture perfect family, nice house and the white picket fence. As well as succeeding and excelling in life and making the future generations lives better than the current one. This concept has contributed much of the immigration from as early as 1931 to present day. However, many immigrants immigrate to the United States in order to escape oppression as well as uprising and turmoil which may reside in their home country. Though society often places people none the less immigrants into categories from social class, heritage, and prejudice they share a common thread of hope as well as facing obstacles in their journeys and once they arrive to the states. An example of this common thread of escaping their homeland in order to pursue new experiences and hopeful new life yet experiencing different hardships are shown when looking at both the Mexicans and the Irish.
Between the years of 1845 and 1850 a fungus swept through Ireland’s crops. During these turbulent times starvation, and diseases set in and claimed millions of lives. While starvation and diseases spread 500,000 immigrated to the United States. These large waves of Irish immigrants accounted for more than half of all immigrants in the 1840s. In addition between “1820 and 1975 4.7 million Irish settled in America claiming it as home”. (PBS.)
Many of these Irish immigrants had no skills, no previous experience and no money. They also had only a few clothes and little hope as well as little education. In hopes to finding better times and opportunities, however, instead they encountered times no better than the conditions they left behind in Ireland. The living conditions were not glamorous or even comfortable. Often times t...

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...esentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress." Irish - Adaptation and Assimilation - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Irish Immigration." Irish Immigration. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
"Mexican - A Growing Community." Mexican - A Growing Community - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. .
PBS. PBS, Sept. 2005. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .

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