Dawes Act

Definition

The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act, was a United States federal law enacted in 1887 that dramatically changed Native American land ownership. The act authorized the president to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments for Native American heads of households and single Native Americans of legal age. This policy aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society by encouraging private property ownership and the adoption of European-American agricultural practices.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. The Dawes Act was intended to break up Native American tribal land holdings and encourage the adoption of European-American agricultural practices and private property ownership.
2. The act authorized the president to survey and divide tribal lands into individual allotments, which were then assigned to Native American heads of households and single Native Americans of legal age.
3. The allotment policy aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society by encouraging them to abandon their traditional communal land ownership and nomadic lifestyles.
4. The Dawes Act resulted in the loss of over 90 million acres of Native American land, as much of the remaining unallotted land was declared 'surplus' and sold to non-Native Americans.
5. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 reversed the Dawes Act's allotment policy and restored tribal control over remaining reservation lands.

Review Questions

• Explain how the Dawes Act was part of the broader 'Assault on American Indian Life and Culture' as described in Chapter 17.4.
  • The Dawes Act was a key component of the federal government's efforts to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society and culture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By dividing tribal lands into individual allotments and encouraging private property ownership, the act aimed to undermine traditional Native American communal land tenure and nomadic lifestyles, forcing them to adopt European-American agricultural practices. This policy was part of a broader campaign to destroy Native American tribal structures, religious practices, and cultural identities in an attempt to integrate them into the dominant white culture, as described in Chapter 17.4's discussion of the 'Assault on American Indian Life and Culture.'
• Analyze how the Dawes Act contributed to the failures of the Hoover administration's policies towards Native Americans, as discussed in Chapter 25.4.
  • The Dawes Act's legacy of land loss and cultural assimilation continued to negatively impact Native American communities well into the 20th century, including during the Hoover administration's tenure. Chapter 25.4 notes that Hoover's policies towards Native Americans, which emphasized further allotment and assimilation, were largely ineffective and failed to address the ongoing consequences of the Dawes Act. The act had already resulted in the loss of over 90 million acres of tribal lands, undermining Native American self-governance and economic self-sufficiency. Hoover's continuation of these assimilationist policies, rather than seeking to restore tribal sovereignty and land rights, contributed to the failures of his administration's approach to Native American affairs, as discussed in this chapter.
• Evaluate the long-term impacts of the Dawes Act on Native American communities and how it shaped the federal government's policies towards indigenous peoples in the decades that followed.
  • The Dawes Act had profound and long-lasting negative impacts on Native American communities. By dividing tribal lands into individual allotments and encouraging assimilation into European-American agricultural and property ownership practices, the act resulted in the loss of over 90 million acres of Native American land, undermining tribal sovereignty and self-governance. This land loss and cultural disruption contributed to widespread poverty, malnutrition, and the erosion of traditional lifeways among many Native American groups. The failures of the Dawes Act's assimilationist approach eventually led to the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, which sought to reverse the act's policies and restore tribal control over reservation lands. However, the legacy of the Dawes Act continued to shape federal Indian policy for decades, as the government struggled to reconcile its goals of cultural assimilation with the need to respect Native American self-determination and sovereignty.

Related terms

Allotment: The division of Native American tribal land into individual plots or allotments, which were then assigned to individual Native Americans as private property.

Assimilation: The process of integrating individuals or groups into the dominant cultural traditions of a society, often by encouraging the adoption of the dominant group's language, customs, and values.

Indian Reorganization Act: A 1934 federal law that reversed the Dawes Act's allotment policy and restored tribal control over remaining reservation lands.