Dawes Act How did the Dawes Act effect the development of Native American society?

I. Congressman Henry Dawes A.Author of the act B.Once expressed his faith in the civilizing power of private property with the claim that to be civilized was to wear civilized clothes. 1.Cultivate the ground 2.Live in houses 3.Ride in Studebaker wagons 4.Send children to school, [and] own property.

II. The Act A.Provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations B.Extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians

C.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 1.To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; 2.To each single person over eighteen years of age, one- eighth of a section; 3.To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one- eighth of a section; and, 4.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 D.The purported aim of the Act was to protect Indian property rights during the Oklahoma Land Rush.

III. Abuses of the Dawes Act A.Native Americans had to "anglicize" their names 1.Rolling Thunder thus became Ron Thomas 2.Allowed agents of the government to slip the names of their relatives and friends onto the Dawes Rolls 3.Thus reap millions of acres of land for their friends and cronies.

B. Revealed and set forth in the Miriam Report of The 800 page report documented massive fraud and misappropriation by the very government agents sent to administer the Act 2.It was found in one state alone that Indian held land, which totaled 138 million acres in 1887 at the time the Dawes Act was signed into law, had been reduced to 47 million acres of land by 1934 when the Act was repealed. 3.Led to the repeal of the Dawes Act 4.Although repeal did not mean that land obtained thru fraud was restored

Review 1.How did the Dawes Act develop? 2.What was the purpose of the Dawes Act? 3.How was land supposed to be distributed under the Dawes Act? 4.What process did Indians have to go through to receive land through the Dawes Act? 5.What was the Miriam Report of 1929? 6.Did this report change the issues caused by the Dawes Act? 7.How did this effect the development of Native American society?