During the Reconstruction years, Republican policymakers made sweeping policy decisions — especially hav- ing to do with land rights, voting rights, and educa- tion — that shaped the future of African Americans in the South and American Indians in the West. In an essay, compare U.S. policies toward the two groups. What assumptions and goals underlay each effort to incorporate racial minorities into the United States? To what extent did each effort suc- ceed or fail, and why? How did the actions of pow- erful whites in each region shape the results?

During the Reconstruction years, Republican policymakers made sweeping policy decisions — especially hav- ing to do with land rights, voting rights, and educa- tion — that shaped the future of African Americans in the South and American Indians in the West. In an essay, compare U.S. policies toward the two groups. What assumptions and goals underlay each effort to incorporate racial minorities into the United States? To what extent did each effort suc- ceed or fail, and why? How did the actions of pow- erful whites in each region shape the results?