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| Congressman Henry Dawes, author of the
act, once expressed his faith in the civilizing power
of private property with the claim that to be civilized
was to "wear civilized clothes...cultivate the
ground, live in houses, ride in Studebaker wagons, send
children to school, drink whiskey [and] own property." |
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The Dawes Act, February 8, 1887
(U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXIV, p. 388 ff.)
An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty
to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend
the protection of the laws of the United States and
the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted, That in all cases where any tribe or
band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located
upon any reservation created for their use, either by
treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress
or executive order setting apart the same for their
use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby
is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation
or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous
for agricultural and grazing purposes to cause said
reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or
resurveyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said
reservations in severalty to any Indian located thereon
in quantities as follows:
To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;
To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth
of a section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth
of a section; and,
To each other single person under eighteen years now
living, or who may be born prior to the date of the
order of the
President directing an allotment of the lands embraced
in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section; . .
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SEC. 5. That upon the approval of the allotments provided
for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he
shall . . .declare that the United States does and will
hold the land thus allotted, for the period of twenty-five
years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the
Indian to whom such allotment shall have been made,
. . . and that at the expiration of said period the
United States will convey the same by patent to said
Indian, or his heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged
of such trust and free of all charge or encumbrance
whatsoever: . . .
SEC. 6. That upon the completion of said allotments
and the patenting of the lands to said allottees, each
and every member of the respective bands or tribes of
Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have
the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil
and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they
may reside; . . .And every Indian born within the territorial
limits of the United States to whom allotments shall
have been made under the provisions of this act, or
under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within
the territorial limits of the United States who has
voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence
separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein,
and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby
declared to be a citizen of the United States, and is
entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities
of such citizens, whether said Indian has been or not,
by birth or otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians
within the territorial limits of the United States without
in any manner impairing or otherwise affecting the right
of any such Indian to tribal or other property ….. |
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