# Dawes Act (1887)

URL: https://allhistories.com/usa/timeline/1887-dawes-act
Location: United States
Themes: main-event

Approved February 8, 1887, the Dawes Act subdivided communal reservation lands into individual allotments and opened "surplus" land to non-Native settlement. It caused a severe reduction in the quantity of Indian landholdings, from 138 million acres in 1887 to 48 million acres in 1934, the year Congress ended allotment with the Indian Reorganization Act.

## Why it matters
Aimed to assimilate Native Americans while catastrophically shrinking Native landholding.

Who Was in Power: [Grover Cleveland](https://allhistories.com/usa/rulers/grover-cleveland-1885)

## Sources
- [National Archives – Dawes Act](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act)
- [Britannica – Dawes General Allotment Act](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dawes-General-Allotment-Act)