General Allotment Act of 1887

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Native American policy United States federal law land allotment policy

The General Allotment Act of 1887, commonly known as the Dawes Act, was a U.S. federal law that broke up communal Native American lands into individual allotments in an effort to promote assimilation and open “surplus” lands to non-Native settlement.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
Dawes Act	8
General Allotment Act	2

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Native American policy ⓘ United States federal law ⓘ land allotment policy ⓘ
administeredBy	Department of the Interior of the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ Office of Indian Affairs NERFINISHED ⓘ
affectedGroup	Native American individuals ⓘ Native American tribes as sovereign entities ⓘ
appliesTo	Native American reservation lands ⓘ Native American tribes ⓘ
country	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
criticizedFor	breaking up communal landholding systems ⓘ facilitating large-scale dispossession of Native American lands ⓘ imposing Euro-American cultural norms on Native peoples ⓘ
dateSigned	1887-02-08 ⓘ
effectiveDate	1887-02-08 ⓘ
enactedBy	United States Congress ⓘ
hasAlias	Dawes Act NERFINISHED ⓘ General Allotment Act NERFINISHED ⓘ
hasLongTermImpact	complex trust land management issues ⓘ ongoing fractionation of Native American land titles ⓘ
historicalContext	era of westward expansion ⓘ post–Civil War U.S. Indian policy ⓘ
includedProvision	U.S. citizenship for some Native allottees under certain conditions ⓘ
influencedBy	U.S. agrarian ideals of small private farms ⓘ assimilationist reformers ⓘ
inForceUntil	Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 NERFINISHED ⓘ
introducedConcept	individual land allotments for Native Americans ⓘ trust period for allotted lands ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States government ⓘ surface form: United States federal government
landTenureChange	from communal tribal ownership to individual ownership ⓘ
legalMechanism	allotment in severalty ⓘ
partiallyRepealedBy	Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 NERFINISHED ⓘ
policyType	assimilation policy ⓘ land redistribution policy ⓘ
provided	allotments to Native American heads of household ⓘ smaller allotments to single adults and orphans ⓘ
purpose	to allot communal tribal lands to individual Native American households ⓘ to open so-called surplus Indian lands to non-Native settlement ⓘ to promote assimilation of Native Americans into Euro-American agrarian culture ⓘ
resultedIn	fragmentation of Native American reservations ⓘ increased federal control over Native American lands ⓘ loss of tribal land base ⓘ transfer of so-called surplus lands to non-Native settlers ⓘ undermining of tribal sovereignty ⓘ
signedBy	Grover Cleveland NERFINISHED ⓘ
subjectOf	Native American legal and historical scholarship ⓘ U.S. Supreme Court and federal court interpretations of allotment policy ⓘ