American Settlers Greed

During the early 1800s, land, in general, was of precious value to most Americans as farming was the key to success. Along with moving westward, land was seen as a new opportunity for American settlers to build a better life. The land was already occupied by Native Americans though, therefore, the American settlers pushed for the federal government to pass laws that gave them rights over the lands. Then, Indian Territory kept getting smaller and smaller due to the federal government laws that were passed, such as the Homestead Act of 1862 that gave free land to white settlers, but it was actually land from the Indian Territories. Then, the Dawes Act of 1887 was quite handy for American settlers. The Dawes Act of 1887 meant that large areas once owned by Indian tribes were divided into parcels of 160 acres or less and dispersed to individual Indians as personal allotments, …show more content…
Some of the land-hungry settlers that flocked to the borders wanted to build new lives because going westward meant new opportunities for most, but it also was power and greed. The greed came from the fact that big corporations such as Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads offered their employers a stake at unclaimed lands just by going to work because they could jump off the rail lines at a stop and stake claim (Phillips). They also staked claim to build railroads before the proclamation by invading the lands and pushing for projected lines to be built, which got accomplished with the opening of the lands for settlement. The illegality of some settlers also showed greed to some extent because they were too impatient to wait until the borders were released. As others have described, “the run can be viewed as an act of conglomerated human greed… At the best, it can be seen as a fulfillment of God-fearing citizens who wished to build homes for themselves”