The Dawes Act
Transfer of Reservation Lands to
Whites Through the Political Process
1
The Dawes Act

One of the most important actions taken by
Congress was the 1887 General Allotment
Act or the Dawes Act

one of the first laws that specified how reservation
land had to be allocated

reservation land was to be allotted to Indians in
essentially the same way that the federal domain was
being privatized under the Homestead Act

authorized the division of the reservations into 160
acre allotments, and the assignment of one allotment to
each Indian family
2
Dawes Act, Continued

Alloted land was to be held in trust for the Indians for 25 years,
after which it would convert to fee simple (homesteads
became fee simple in 5 years)


Allotments could be smaller if a reservation did not have enough
land to give each family 160 acres, and in some cases families
actually got as little as 10 acres.
Backers claimed that allotment would benefit Indians by
dividing up the reservation lands into private ownership
plots


Would individualize Indians & create all of the good
incentives that come with private property rights (see WSJ on
Argentina families)
Would facilitate assimilation of the Indians into American culture
3
Actual Outcome of the Dawes Act

a very complicated and heavily supervised
property rights allocation emerged from the
allotment process that



proved to be inefficient
created a situation ripe for corruption.
Inefficient because for most of the Indian
Reservations, 160 acres was not enough for a
subsistence farm

Homesteading was used to break up federal land in the
Midwest first, where the soil is rich and there is substantial
precipitation, so 160 acres was a pretty efficient size
4
Inefficient Sizes of Allotments

160 acres was much too small in the more arid
plains of the west, and the even more arid lands
of the southwest and inter-mountain area.
 homesteaders found this out when they moved
into the plains only to discover that they could
not survive on the farms they got

same was clearly true for most of the reservations.
 In many cases, reservations were large enough so that
the Indians could have been given larger tracts (they
actually were in the extremely arid areas where some
Indian families got as much as 400 acres
5
The Real Reason for Inefficiently
Small Allotments

Under the Dawes Act, “Surplus” reservation land not
allotted, was opened to white settlers


The Homestead Act was ultimately changed when it
became apparent that 160 acres was too small, but where
the reservation land was attractive to whites, the Indian
allotments were not changed
a primary purpose of the Allotment Act was to make it
possible for white settlers to obtain reservation lands

not interested in Indian lands in extremely arid areas, so
those Indians were given more than 160 acres, but this did
not happen with land attractive to whites
6
Land Rush

Arriving for the
Land Rush:
Yellowstone
Valley, Montana
7
1891 Amendment to the Dawes Act

allowed lease of allotted lands

Much of the allotted land was not being shifted
into production, probably because the parcels
were too small to work efficiently


parcels of land had to be combined somehow to achieve
the scale that was necessary.
By leasing allotted land, a farmer could expand the size
of an operating farm to achieve the efficient scale of
operation
8
Whites Gain Control of Reservation
Lands too

Lease could be to other Indians or to whites


whites probably had comparative advantages in
agriculture over many Indians, at least outside the 5
civilized tribes and a few others that had substantial
experience in agriculture before they were put on
reservations
whites could pay more for use of the allotted land than it
was worth to the Indians (e.g., whites had access to
credit markets and often owned other land to use as
collateral)
9
Timing of Allotments

Allotment did not occur immediately

required substantial bureaucratic undertaking to
survey and allot the Indian lands

many reservations operated under their customary
systems of property rights well into the 1900s


Allotment was still going on into the 1930s, and some
reservations were never allotted at all because the
allotment process was finally ended.
timing of allotment was also politically driven

reservations containing “surplus” lands that were most
desirable to white settlers were allotted first, and those that
were the least desirable waited.
10
Evidence of Political Influence

study by Carlson examines the timing of allotment and
provides statistical evidence that the earliest allotments
were those in the most populated states where the most
land had been improved for ag


allotment was ended in 1934


within those states, the reservations that got the most rainfall were
alloted before those with the least rainfall
by that time the average quality of Indian land had clearly fallen as
parts of the best land had been transferred to whites while the
worst land remained in reservations
this process also meant that the size, power and
influence of the BIA increased dramatically since it was
in charge of the allotment process
11
Interest Group Politics and The
Allotment of Indian Lands

Settlers and the bureaucracy (discussed below)
clearly benefited from the Allotment Act and the
resulting developments.

like the bootleggers and Baptists example
 settlers and bureaucrats were like the bootleggers.
 many people felt that "Americanization" was the best way
to help Indians
 religious groups wanted to convert Indians to Christianity
 ”Friends of the Indians" (missionaries, clergy, east coast
and especially New York journalists and educators, and
government officials) was organized to pursue full
citizenship rights for Indians
12
Friends of the Indians, and other
Political Supporters of the Act



BIA also supported the act


also advocated breaking up the reservations by dividing
them into homesteads for the Indians, and a government
run education system for all Indians in order to turn them
into "good Americans."
 felt that the Indians had to give up their strong
communities, seeing them as communistic, and that
private property rights was the way to do this
strongly supported the Dawes act even though it did not go
as far as they wanted in some areas
contended that it was the means by which they would
ultimately allow the Indians to stand on their own
 Apparently wanted to put themselves out of work!
no strong opposition to the Allotment Act
13
Indian Views Regarding the Dawes
Act

probably mixed



Some were clearly going to be worse off, since, within
many of the agricultural areas the size of the average farm
under the Indian systems of customary use rights was
actually larger than 160 acres
there were also many Indians with smaller holdings
Supporters were probably rare on reservations where
cultivation agriculture was not feasible
 Indians who were on reservations that engaged in open
range ranching probably would have opposed the
process if they had any political influence, but they did
not.
14
The Allotment Process

Once allotment began on a reservation each adult
male was given four years to choose his land
parcel and if he failed or refused to do so, the
Interior Department (BIA) was to assign an
allotment to him.

After all eligible members of the tribe received their allotments,
the Act stated that any remaining land was surplus, and
therefore was to be opened to "secure homes for actual
settlers”

government was suppose to pay the tribe for this surplus land and
the settlers were allowed to take the land as homesteads
15
Changes in the Process


Under a 1900 Amendment to the Act, Whites were allowed
to buy the surplus and the federal government acted as the
agent for the Indians in the sale
1909 (1906) amendment authorized granting fee simple
title to any Indian immediately if the Indian was deemed to
be "competent and capable of managing his or her own
affairs."
 BIA was under considerable pressure to issue such
titles, so the amount of fee simple land created on
reservations increased dramatically
 One reason for this was that once land was fee simple, it
was no longer considered to be "Indian Land", so whites
could gain title without dealing with the BIA, by buying it
from the Indian with fee simple rights
16
Allotment
Surplus
17
18
Effects of the Dawes Act


if the objective of the allotment act was to privatize
land (or take it), then it was clearly a success.
if the objective was to increase land ownership by
individual Indians in order to encourage them to
engage in ag, it was a disaster.

as the 25 years for land being held in trust ended, the
land became fee simple, and the Indians could sell it to
whites, often those who had been leasing it.

estimated 60 percent of the allotted lands ended up being
transferred to whites.
19
Transfer of Indian Lands

In 1881 there were 155,632, 312 acres
allocated to tribes and to individual Indians on
reservations



1890 the total was down to 104,314,349
by 1933 it reached 69,588,421
in 1962 there were 50,557,234, less than a third
of what it had been 80 years earlier

Since then Indian lands stabilized and even increased
some

some new reservations have been created
20
Indian Reservations, 1875
21
Indian Reservations, 1890
22
Indian Reservations, 1930
23
Wealth Transfer through The Political
Process

The Dawes Act and its amendments, and the bureaucratic
application of the acts let non-Indian interests capture
wealth originally allocated to the Indians as reservation
lands

result reflects special interest politics

reservations were established at precisely the same time that
western land values for white settlers were rising

Whites were excluded from access, and they had incentives to
find a way to obtain access

Dawes Act and its amendments did that, and the result was
one of the largest real estate transfers through the political
process in American history.
24
Political Constituencies

Alston and Spiller found that the senators and
congressmen on the influential committees
responsible for these acts were self-selected

did not represent the interest of Indians.

Indians had no political clout
 could not vote, and they had no money to offer
 already defeated so threats of fighting and other sorts of
disruption were not really credible (there were
occasional small scale revolts, such as Wounded Knee,
but the Indians simply had no way of influencing policy).
25
Constituencies, Continued

The most powerful constituencies for the
congressmen in control of Indian policy were
those who wanted access to Indian lands.

Even those whites who believed that they were
advocates for the Indians, such as the Friends of the
Indian, mistakenly believed that the allotment process
was going to be good for Indians

those who wanted to capture Indian lands through the
political process managed to get the act structured in such
a way that they would be able to do so, perhaps to the
surprise of those who considered themselves to be
advocates for Indians.
26
BIA Interests

Unlike regulatory bureaucracies that tend to get
captured by the Industry they regulate, the BIA
was not captured by the Indians.

suppose to serve the Indians' interests, but in reality
they permitted almost no opportunities for the Indians to
influence bureau policy, and did not systematically
pursue the interests of the Indians.

might ask why the bureaucracy would not have resisted the
transfer of Indian lands to whites, since it meant that the
bureaucracy’s domain was being reduced, but in fact, the
impact of allotment on the BIA was quite positive
 bureaus' budget increased dramatically as did
employment by the bureau.
27
BIA Interests, Continued

If the lands had simply been given directly to the Indians or
to the whites the role of the bureau would have been
somewhat limited, although the actually allocation process
would have had to have been supervised to make sure that
it complied with Congressional mandates
 bureau was given the task of surveying the reservations,
assigning parcels to individual Indians, and then
teaching the Indians how to become independent
farmers
 many in the bureau and in Congress contended that the
bureau would ultimately disappear because of the
allotment process and the resulting self sufficiency of the
Indians, but the opposite actually occurred
28
BIA, Continued


bureau continued to grow because allotment created a lot
of work for the bureau and justified its growth
 initial act required that allotted lands be held in trust for
25 years, so the bureau had a major administrative job
to do.
 1891 amendment allowed the lease of allotted lands,
and as trustees the bureaus employees were
responsible for determinant the procedures for such
transfers as well as the terms of leases, and so on.
 not until 1909 that actual fee simple rights could be
granted, but then the bureau had to determine if the
Indian was "competent and capable of managing his or
her own affairs.”
Each amendment meant more duties for the bureau.
29
BIA Continued

Other duties increased too


as the Indians' incentives and abilities to pursue
economic activities such as ag declined with the transfer
of land to whites, Indians actually became more and
more dependent on the Federal government for food,
clothing, housing, and so on
Between the allotment process and the other
policies of the bureau a very large population of
dependents was created that they had to care for
and supervise (an issue to be considered later)
30
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
and the End of Allotment

if allotment had continued, the reservations and
BIA would have ultimately become irrelevant as
land was transferred to whites

Allotment was ended by Congress in 1934,

preserved what was still a large system of reservations and
a large number of dependents
 One reason: the best of the Indian lands had already
been allotted
 Another: the value of land had fallen substantially (Great
Depression), and ag prices had dropped dramatically,
unemployment was very high, and few whites were
interested in gaining access to more Indian land
31
Indian Reorganization Act, Continued



froze most allotments for which fee simple had not been
granted into perpetual trusteeship.
 BIA administers these trusts (discussed in detail later)
mandated that tribal governments be established on the
reservations.
 would administer the tribal lands that remained
unalloted, but the bureau was to be responsible for
setting up and advising these governments.
the major lobbying effort to end allotment came from the
BIA which also sought a larger budget in order for it to
accomplish its new duties, duties that it lobbied to get
32
Allotment’s Legacy

As Carlson suggests, "the general program of allotting
land in severality was bent, pulled, and shaped by nonIndian economic interests,"and as McChesney explains,
"Every change in the sequence of allotment events from
1887 to 1934 led to an increase in the involvement of
the federal government in Indian affairs and each
change can be explained by its ability to generate more
work for the Indian bureaucracy".
33
Other Transfers

Indian land did not necessarily have to be allotted to be
transferred.


Anderson describes the political process leading to the
opening of the Cherokee Outlet for instance.
 provides another indication that the special interest
theory of government explains Indian policy pretty well,
and that for much of its history, the Indians themselves
had virtually no influence over that policy
Under allotment those who did obtain fee simple land were
able to sell it and get something for it
 Indians got very little from surplus lands homesteaded or
sold by the government for the tribes (BIA trust
management is discussed later), or for land that was
simply taken (e.g., Cherokee Outlet)
34
Reductions in the Hidatsa Lands
35
Hidatsa Reservation Today
36
Ute Territory Before Reservations
Were Created
37
Ute Reservation, 1868
38
Ute Reservation, 1873
39
Current Ute Reservations
40
Indians Subject to Congressional and
BIA Supervision


The result of Indian policy as it developed through the
last couple of decades of the 19th century and the first 3
or 4 decades of the 20th century, was not the
establishment of self-reliant and self-determined Indians,
as so many advocates claimed it would be.
Instead, reservation Indians found themselves
becoming increasingly dependent wards of the state
entangled in what Anderson describes as a
“bureaucratic quagmire”
41
Apache Receiving Cloth Commodities
42
Apache Women Receiving
Commodities
43
Geronimo and Family, Fort Sill, OK,
Pumpkin Patch
44