The Dawes Act of 1887: Main Idea
The Dawes Act of 1887: Main Idea
How To Make American Indians "Good American Citizens"
Here's the gist of what this Act is saying. (Bear with us; it's not pretty.)
The only way those stubborn Native Americans can survive is to break up the reservations and assimilate them into American society with a path to citizenship. The government will give them the chance to farm and own some reservation land privately—hands off, tribes—and they'll recognize the benefits of this more civilized way of life. And if there's any reservation land left over after allotting it to individuals, it's ours. For a fair price, of course.
And P.S. We can still run railroads through your new property it if we think it would be for the common good. This is a one-time offer, folks—call in the next fifteen minutes for your 160 acres.
Questions
- Which do you think was more important to the framers of this law: That the Native Americans have land on which to live/farm, or how they live/farm on said land. What are some key phrases that might give away their priorities?
- The Dawes Act somehow came up with one section per Native American = 160 acres. What were some of the factors that probably went into choosing this amount of land?
- What's with the obsession over "riparian rights?" Why would these be pretty important?
- Which Native American tribes were excluded from this Act? Why?
Chew On This
The Dawes Act was all about laying the groundwork for eradicating and/or subjugating the Native American way of life, legally and in such a way as to conceal its intent.
Dawes really wanted what was best for the tribes; his Eurocentric perspective just made it impossible to think that Native American culture was as good as his.
Quotes
Quote #1
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 (1.2).
That little phrase "and for other purposes" just kinda haunts us. It's so vague – was that done because they were going to elaborate later, and it was just for the sake of brevity? Or were they twisting their mustaches while sneering at each other? "Other purposes…Mwah ha ha ha ha."
Quote #2
That in case there is not sufficient land in any of said reservations to allot lands to each individual […] in quantities as above provided, the lands […] shall be allotted to each individual […] pro rata […] (1.4).
Sweet. So, if there isn't enough land to give them all what we've promised, then we'll just give them all the same amount of less land. Fair is fair.
Quote #3
That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees […] and 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 […] (5.1).
Basically, they wanted to make sure that the allottee was farming his own land, by himself, for his own benefit. Because previously, tribes farmed communally and heck, that just wasn't American.
Quote #4
At any time after lands have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe […] or sooner if in the opinion of the President it shall be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe […] of such portions of its reservation not allotted […] (5.4).
This is when we start talking about power structures and why they're important. See, if the Secretary of the Interior or the President deem that it would be "in the best interests of said Tribe," to sell some lands which may or may not be strategically important to other projects the government might have in mind, what Tribe will be able to fight them over this? The negotiations are going to be one-sided from the get-go. The whole "it's in their best interest" attitude is getting a little old.
Quote #5
That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed to affect the right and power of Congress to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian, or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph lines, for the public use, or condemn such lands to public uses, upon making just compensation (10.1).
They might as well have highlighted this statement and drawn an arrow up to Section 5.4, with "See Above" written in all Caps. "Just compensation" is usually in the eye of the compensator, and the government had a pretty dismal track record in that regard.