Dawes Act

Creative Commons License Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Copyright and Use Information.

Also called the General Allotment Act. The law authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into pieces for individual Indians. The objective of the Dawes Act was to pressure Indians to assimilate into White society. The government would then purchase Indian land that wasn't allotted and open it up for settlement by non-Indians.