Why the United States?

There were many immigrants in the United States, which included some African American, Mexican, etc. but what about the Irish? The Irish came to the United States in 1850. EdHelper(2011) said one of the reasons why the Irish came to America was to seek religious freedom because Ireland was under control by Great Britain; they wanted the freedom to believe in anything they wanted. Another reason was because Ireland was poor at the time and the Irish came to America for a better life. Ship Bettman(2005) said the English controlled all the crops and exported them back to Great Britain and the Irish farmers were only left with a small amount of the crops to feed their families. On top of that, a fungus destroyed one of their most valued crop, the potato; as a result this potato famine caused 1 million deaths in the mid 19th century.