The Homestead Act of 1862: A Primary Source History of the Settlement of the American Heartland in the Late 19th Century (Primary Sources in American History) Library Binding – Illustrated, August 30, 2004

Great resource

I do not recommend that you waste a penny buying this run of the mill his-story book this book lies through the simple process of omission. How can the American government give away somebody else's land which is what happened in the Homestead Act of 1862 a partial truth is stated on page 24 "The territory, however, was not uninhabited. Native American tribes made their homes throughout the region. The U.S. government had even pushed into this "great American desert". In 1825, Congress created an official Indian Territory in present-day Kansas and Oklahoma, to push tribes off desirable land in the East. President Andrew Jackson took the issue a step further by signing the Indian Removal Act in 1830, relocating eastern tribes onto land west of the Mississippi. Nine years later, the government forced the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes from their lands, marching them to Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears". The excellent DVD film THE TRAIL OF TEARS will give you a thorough idea of the torturing Trail of Tears experience. Another partial truth is stated on page 54 "Homesteaders settled more than 250 million acres (101 million ha) through the United States". All of this land was owned and more importantly cared for(no air and water pollution) by the American Indian, an excellent book to read about this issue of the American government stealing their (the American Indian's) land is the book "WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD" the autobiography of RUSSELL MEANS.

Interesting book which is very understandable. It provided us with loads of information.

very good

This is a thorough and thoughtful accounting of U.S. expansion into what would become the prairie states, considering the constraints required by this book's relatively small size.