Homesteading wasn’t just because of border disputes with Canada. The tribes weren’t unfortunate victims of a land dispute between two countries. Eradication of the tribes was one of the goals of the homestead act. The idea was you could have some land if you helped “tame” the West. Taming included killing, or forcing the natives to flee.
I love that you mentioned The Jungle. My college history teacher had us read that book instead of a text book for that era. He said it fully illustrated the exploitation of Americans and American immigrants in a way that a text book never would. He did cover textbook content during class lectures. It’s unbelievable how fucked up life was for the poor back then. We have it great compared to laborers of that era, and we have their fights, blood, and tears to thank for it. It’s our obligation to ensure our descendants have it better than we do, just like those laborers back then did for us.