General Allotment Act
United States 1887
Synopsis
The General Allotment Act, or Dawes Severalty Act, was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Grover Cleveland in 1887 to give formally (or "allot") land to individual Native Americans. This federal policy would replace the existing communal tribal landholdings that historically had been a part of Native American culture with individual ownership of land. The allotments were usually 65 hectares (160 acres). U.S. Senator Henry Laurens Dawes sponsored the bill that intended to incorporate tribal members into the "civilized" white man's world, a world declared to be based on freedom, individualism, opportunity, and progress. The act stated that allotments could only be sold after a statutory period of 25 years, and all surplus lands not allotted to the Native Americans were open to public sale. Within a few decades following the passage of the act, whites owned the vast majority of what had been tribal land. The act was designed to absorb Native Americans into the society of the United States but instead contributed to the further decline of their populations, customs, and well-being.
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