By Diviya Rajesh, Caroline Ressler, and Andrew Ciatto The Dawes Act An Unsuccessful Attempt to Equalize Native Americans By Diviya Rajesh, Caroline Ressler, and Andrew Ciatto

General Facts About the Dawes Act The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act, was created by and named after Henry Dawes, a Massachusetts congressman. The act was approved on February 8, 1887. The Dawes Act was the major Indian Policy up until the 1930s. Assimilation- The Americanizing of Native Americans

Why was the Dawes Act created? Designed to create farmers out of Native Americans by giving them land and tools Designed to encourage breakup of tribes and promote bringing Natives into American life, society, and culture.

Make a timeline of the important historical events History Make a timeline of the important historical events What Did the Act do for Natives and White Settlers? Native Americans Provided the Native Americans with 160 acres of land for each family Forced many Native Americans off of their land and on to worse plots of land Sent Native settlers' children to boarding schools White Settlers Provided the White Settlers with much more land

Effect of The Dawes Act Before the Dawes Act, Native Americans owned about 150 million acres of land. After the Dawes Act, the land was divided up, and the Native Americans lost about 2/3 of the land. The land was then given to Natives who could use the land for either farming or grazing. The rest of the land was divided up between white settlers.

Effect of The Dawes Act Then, many of the Natives began to sell their land that they were given. Many European Settlers took advantage of the natives and cheated them out of much of the money that they should have been paid Then, once the Native Americans got the money, since they had not handled money before, they spent most of the money right away. 90,000 Natives ended up broke with no land.

Conclusion The Dawes Act was not as successful as Henry Dawes and many others would have hoped. Most of the Native Americans did not want to be farmers. Those who did want to be farmers could not afford it.

Resources http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/stories/0601_0200.html http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=50 http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/indian-general-allotment-act-dawes-act