Answer: It was the amount the government had paid.
Explanation:
This is based on an excerpt from ''The Spirit of Alcatraz'' which talks about how Native Sioux want to get back the island that Alcatraz sits on after the U.S. declared it to be excess federal land.
The excerpt shows that the Federal government pays $9.40 for the islands so the Sioux demonstrators who offered that amount did so because it was the amount the government paid and to them it would only be right to pay back the same amount.
