What was the factual background to the satire of 'A Modest Proposal'?

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There are two basic
reasons that Johnathan Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal." First, the people of Ireland
were being treated poorly by the wealthy upper class. The impoversed people were growing
rapidly in numbers. The weathly didn't know what to do about the situation. Swift's
pamphlet drew attention to the way they were being treated.

His
pamphlet also drew attention to another issue of the time. Many of the solutions
proposed during this time were ridiculous. Swift was drawing attention to the fact that
many proposals sounded intelligent and looked good on paper, but they were actually
almost as silly as Swift's sarcastic pamphlet. People were forced to open their eyes to
these two issues as they read Swift's proposal.

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