LAD/Blog #25: Dawes Severalty Act

The Dawes Act, approved in 1887, provided land for Native Americans and described in detail the method of allotting land to them. Firstly, the government would pay for the land to be allotted to Native American tribes. 1/4 of a section would go to each head of a family, 1/8 of a section to a single person over 18, 1/8 of a section to an orphaned child under 18, and 1/16 of a section to any other person under 18. In addition to this, the act provided that if the President thought it to be in the best interests of the tribe, the Secretary of the Interior could negotiate with Indians to purchase back the land. In such a case, the land could be put up for sale to actual settlers moving west, and the Indians were free to the money they received from the purchase however they pleased. Other land not allotted to the Native Americans was not to be sold to railroads and white settlers, and the government was to use the money to help assimilate Native Americans into white culture. Furthermore, the act stated that any Indian born within the territorial limits of the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S., although probation periods applied to them. However, the act did not extend to certain tribes, such as the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Osage, Miamies, Peorias, Sacs, Foxes, Senecas, or Sioux, and others.