Final answer:
The Homestead Act and the Dawes Act contributed to the resettlement of Native Americans into reservations by promoting the settlement of their ancestral lands and redistributing tribal lands to white settlers, severely diminishing Native territories.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Homestead Act of 1862 led to the forced relocation of Native Americans to reservations through encouragement of settlement on Native American lands. This act offered 160 acres of land to settlers with the condition of 'improving' the land over five years, which inadvertently encroached on lands traditionally occupied by Native tribes. The Dawes Act of 1887 further exacerbated this situation by dividing reservation lands into individual plots for Native Americans, under the guise of assimilation, and sold 'surplus' lands to white settlers, reducing the Native Americans' territory and disrupting their communal lifestyle.
The Dawes Act, in particular, claimed to be helping Native Americans by giving them land and supporting their transition to an agricultural lifestyle similar to that of white Americans. However, the most fertile lands were often taken by whites, leaving Native Americans with arid and less productive plots, culminating in the loss of millions of acres of their ancestral lands. The act's implementation ended up facilitating the U.S. government's goal of westward expansion by redistributing large tracts of land to settlers, which led many Native Americans to be relegated to reservations as their territories diminished.