For generations children have been studying the Western Expansion or Homesteading Era in their school history classes. Many books, such as the Little House on the Prairie books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a survivor of the experience, teach us about the time period and what struggles they had to face and overcome. The Western Expansion was an important time for the newly founded America; it proved what America is today.

"No one who had not homesteaded can understand the fascination and terror of it." (Laura Ingalls Wilder) The spirit of the pioneers that lived in the 19th century came because of a need to own land. Today is the same as 1888, in that land can't be created, but can only be divided and divided again. With each division, a plot of land becomes smaller and smaller, never bigger. In 1862 the government passed the Homestead Act. In exchange...