Question

What was the purpose of using lottery instead of land run

Answer 1

The lottery system was used to distribute land in an equitable and orderly fashion, contrasted with the discriminatory and chaotic nature of land runs. Lotteries also served to raise funds and manage land distribution related to historical events such as post-Civil War resettlement and the Indian Removal Act.

Step-by-step explanation:

The purpose of using a lottery instead of a land run was typically to distribute land in a manner seen as more equitable and less chaotic than land runs. Land runs often led to races that could disadvantage less physically able or resourceful individuals, whereas a lottery allowed for a more controlled and fair allocation of land. Additionally, lotteries could be used as a means to raise funds and had a long history of being tied to various aspects of America’s growth, including distributing lands to homesteaders, confiscating and redistributing land by governments, and addressing issues related to land ownership and resettlement. For example, in the context of the Cherokee land distribution, Georgia employed a lottery system to allocate lands to white settlers after passing the Indian Removal Act, a process viewed by many as more orderly compared to the disorder of a land run.

Answer 2

The expression land run refers to a practice used in the US through which previously restricted land was offered in first-arrival basis. Among such events, The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was outstanding.

This system was substituted by a lottery in order to exercise more control over the land distribution proccess. Some participants in previous editions had reported that there were "sooners", people who had arrived to the territory before the legal date and, trying to expel them afterwards was very difficult due to long judiciary processes.