LAD #25: Dawes Act

The Dawes Act other known as the Dawes General Allotment Act, was a law established and passed by congress in 1887, regarding the Indian policy. The law focused on  how reservations would be divided into sections of land assigned to individuals. Each head of a family was given one-quarter of a section. Every single person over the age of eighteen as well as each orphan child under the age of eighteen was given one-eighth of a section. Lastly, each other single person under eighteen was assigned one-sixteenth of a section. Lands that were not given to Indians were open to settlement by non-Indians and  for the continued development of railroads.Even if a Native American did not live on a reservation, they were still entitled to their plot of land, and they would receive a patent for it which would be protected by the government. The act emphasized individual land ownership, which contrasted the unity and culture previously held by many Indians living in communal villages. In a way, the act can be seen an attempt at assimilation and to further deprive the Indians of their lands in order to use them for development of infastructure, especially railroads.