The Dawes Act of 1887 Quizzes
Think you’ve got your head wrapped around The Dawes Act of 1887? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. When the drafters of the Dawes Act wrote that the American Indians would be allotted land "in severalty," what did they mean?
Embarrassing typo. They meant to write "in penalty". You know: for being Native American.
Each tribal member can pick as many allotments as they want.
That each allottee would farm it for themselves, not communally with the rest of their tribe.
They had no idea. They were making it up as they went along.
Q. The Law of Descent covers the rules regarding:
Which clothes are decent to wear in public. (typo)
How far the value of the allotments would be allowed to fall
Wait, wait, don't tell us…. Einstein came up with it, right? Something about an apple? Was it Newton?
The order of inheritance of property upon a person's demise
Q. Lawyers love to use Latin phrases. What did they mean when they used the term "Pro rata"?
They would refuse to kill any rats in the allotted lands.
The same as "pro forma"
It means "in proportion," so it meant that if the reservation wasn't big enough for every Indian to get a full allotment, then they'd all get smaller, equal allotments
"Pro rata" is just a fancy way of saying "flat rate."
Q. What the heck does "Riparian Proprietor" mean?
River otter
The owner of Riparians R Us.
The owner of the water rights on a piece of land.
The person in charge of deciding when fruit was ripe enough to pick.
Q. When the allotments were all assigned, they would be "held in trust" for the Native Americans for twenty-five years. What does that mean?
It means that the government trusted the Native Americans to do what's best for the land.
It meant that the government actually owned the land, and could penalize the allottees if they were abusing their privileges.
It meant that everyone on an allotment had entered the Circle of Trust, and could now know the secret handshake.
"Held in Trust" is code for "tax free."