Dawes Act Research Paper

Dawes Act The Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 was introduced by Congressman Henry Dawes with the mindset of dismantling the tribes and promoting Native Americans to adopt the ways of the American way of life. “Congressman Henry Dawes had great faith in the civilizing power of private property. He said that to be civilized was to "wear civilized clothes ... cultivate the ground, live in houses, ride in Studebaker wagons, send children to school, drink whiskey [and] own property." This act was designed to turn Indians into farmers, in the hopes they would become more like mainstream America.” Henry Dawes intended for the Act to provide the Indians a path to citizenship, but the unintended consequences that the Act had on Native Americans were far reaching and long lasting. …show more content…
The allotments were allocated to the more able members of tribes, such as young men and women, people without families, and important head family members. The Indians had the ability to choose the land that was to be allotted to them, but if they did not choose, the government chose for them. The title to the land remained in the government’s possession for twenty-five years, at which time, the title and citizenship would be granted. Any land that “was left over” from the reservations was sold as surplus land and was opened up to white buyers.
This forcing of Native Americans to the “white lifestyle” required the Indians to don farming clothes, live in a house or a cabin rather than a teepee, and that they use farming tools like plows and hoes in lieu of bows and arrows. The tribes that elected to follow the Dawes Act and take up the new “white lifestyle” were rewarded with American citizenship. As part of the Act, the money from the land sales was used to create Indian schools to educate the Indian children on the social ways of white

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