in 1851, when the united states was 75 years old, congress passed the indian appropriations act, creating the reservation system. as the NIH's National Library of Medicine quite literally admits, "The government forces Native peoples to move to and live on reservations, where it can better subdue them. Native peoples find themselves severely restricted in their ability to hunt, fish, and gather their traditional foods. For some tribes, the U.S. institutes food rations, introducing wheat flour, grease, and sugar into American Indian diets."