Failure of the Dawes Act

The Dawes Severalty Act, also called the General Allotment Act, was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1887. The Act stipulated that Native Americans give up their tribal lands in return for individual land grants. Sponsored by Senator Henry Laurens Dawes, the Dawes Act was intended to promote the integration of the Indians into the homesteading way of life. The main effect of the Dawes Act, however, was to open up Indian territory to white settlers. As a land-rich tribe, the Sioux Nation was particularly vulnerable to changes in federal government land policy. Consequently, the Sioux lost a significant portion of their tribal lands as a result of the Dawes Act.

The Dawes Act of 1887 was the most important piece of federal legislation affecting Indians at the turn of the century; from the Indians' point of view it was disastrous. Although the explicit aim of the legislation was the redistribution of tribal lands to individuals, the implications of the policy, referred to as severalty, permeated every aspect of Native American culture. The Dawes Act fulfilled the desire of the United States government to suppress the Indian way of life and force assimilation into white culture. In the opinion of most bureaucrats: "Education in English, conversion to Christianity, and acceptance of white standards of conduct and morality would sever the Indians' ties w

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be bad enough; but to do it in the name of humanity . . . is infinitely worse" (Lazarus, 1991, p. 109). Land-hungry whites quickly became dissatisfied with the limitations of the Dawes Act that allowed them access only to surplus Indian acreage. A major revision of the Act in 1891 allowed Indians who were handicapped, elderly, or underage to lease their allotments. By 1900, a clause was added allowing Indians to lease land on the grounds of "inability." Federal agents authorized these leases and were given substantial discretion in determining the inability of Indians to manage their allotments. Widespread abuse of this system occurred: land scandals involving federal agents, real estate investors, farmers, and local officials were common. The key clause of the original Dawes Act that had the greatest impact on the Sioux tribe was the federal government's power to purchase surplus land. The government ascertained that the Great Sioux Reservation contained about 9 million acres of surplus prairie, and immediately set about to claim it. The allotment clause of the Dawes Act was considered superfluous to the necessity of convincing the Sioux to agree to the sale of their 9 million acres to the government. In its first prop
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Approximate Word count = 1864
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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