General Allotment Act or Dawes Act (1887)
An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severally 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.
Sec. 1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, 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, either by treaty
stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order
setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States
be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any
reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for
agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any
part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, and to allot
the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon
in quantities as follows:
To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;
To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a
section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a
section; and
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:
Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land in any of
said reservations to allot lands to each individual of the classes above
named in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such
reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each individual of each
of said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions of this act:
And provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress
setting apart such reservation provides for the allotment of lands in
severally in quantities in excess of those herein provided, the
President, in making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the
lands to each individual Indian belonging thereon in quantity as
specified in such treaty or act:
And provided further, That when the lands allotted are only
valuable for grazing purposes, an additional allotment of such grazing
lands, in quantities as above provided, shall be made to each
individual.
Sec. 2.
That all allotments set apart under the provisions of this act shall be
selected by the Indians, heads of families selecting for their minor
children, and the agents shall select for each orphan child, and in such
manner as to embrace the improvements of the Indians making the
selection. Where the improvements of two or more Indians have been made
on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they shall othenwise
agree, a provisional line may be run dividing said lands between them,
and the amount to which each is entitled shall be equalized in the
assignment of the remainder of the land to which they are entitled under
this act:
Provided, That if any one entitled to an allotment shall fail to
make a selection within four years after the President shall direct that
allotments may be made on a particular reservation, the Secretary of the
Interior may direct the agent of such tribe or band, if such there be,
and if there be no agent, then a special agent appointed for that
purpose, to make a selection for such Indian, which selection shall be
allotted as in cases where selections are made by the Indians, and
patents shall issue in like manner.
Sec. 3.
That the allotments provided for in this act shall be made by special
agents appointed by the President for such purpose, and the agents in
charge of the respective reservations on which the allotments are
directed to be made, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary
of the Interior may from time to time prescribe, and shall be certified
by such agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in duplicate, one
copy to be retained in the Indian Office and the other to be transmitted
to the Secretary of the Interior for his action, and to be deposited in
the General Land Office.
Sec. 4.
That where any Indian not residing upon a reservation, or for whose
tribe no reservation has been provided by treaty, act of Congress, or
executive order, shall make settlement upon any surveyed or unsurveyed
lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated, he or she shall
be entitled, upon application to the local land office for the district
in which the lands are located, to have the same allotted to him or her,
and to his or her children, in quantities and manner as provided in this
act for Indians residing upon reservations; and when such settlement is
made upon unsurveyed lands, the grant to such Indians shall be adjusted
upon the survey of the lands so as to conform thereto; and patents shall
be issued to them for such lands in the manner and with the restrictions
as herein provided. And the fees to which the officers of such local
land office would have been entitled had such lands been entered under
the general laws for the disposition of the public lands shall be paid
to them, from any moneys in the Treasury of the United States not
otherwise appropriated, upon a statement of an account in their behalf
for such fees by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a
certification of such account to the Secretary of the Treasury by the
Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 5.
That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by the
Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause patents to issue therefore in
the name of the allottees, which patents shall be of the legal effect,
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,
or, in case of his decease, of his heirs according to the laws of the
State or Territory where such land is located, and that at the
expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by
patent to said Indian, or his heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of
said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever:
ProvidedThat the President of the United States may in any case
in his discretion extend the period. And if any conveyance shall be made
of the lands set apart and allotted as herein provided, or any contract
made touching the same, before the expiration of the time above
mentioned, such conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and
void:
Provided That the law of descent and partition in force in the
State or Territory where such lands are situate shall apply thereto
after patents therefore have been executed and delivered, except as
herein otherwise provided; and the laws of the State of Kansas
regulating the descent and partition of real estate shall, so far as
practicable, apply to all lands in the Indian Territory which may be
allotted in severally under the provisions of this act:
And provided further, That at anytime after lands have been
allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as herein provided, 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, in conformity with the treaty or statute under which such
reservation is held, of such portions of its reservation not allotted as
such tribe shall, from time to time, consent to sell, on such terms and
conditions as shall be considered just and equitable between the United
States and said tribe of Indians, which purchase shall not be complete
until ratified by Congress, and the form and manner of executing such
release shall also be prescribed by Congress:
Provided however, That all lands adapted to agriculture, with or
without irrigation so sold or released to the United States b) any
Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for the sole purpose of
securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the United
States to actual and bona fide settlers only in tracts not exceeding one
hundred and sixty acres to any one person, on such terms as Congress
shall prescribe, subject to grants which Congress may make in aid of
education:
And provided further, That no patents shall issue therefore
except to the person so taking the same as and for a homestead, or his
heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy thereof as such
homestead; and any conveyance of said lands so taken as a homestead, or
any contract touching the same, or lien thereon, created prior to the
date of such patent, shall be null and void. And the sums agreed to be
paid by the United States as purchase money for any portion of any such
reservation shall be held in the Treasury of the United States for the
sole use of the tribe or tribes of Indians to whom such reservations
belonged; and the same, with interest thereon at three per cent per
annum, shall be at all times subject to appropriation by Congress for
the education and civilization of such tribe or tribes of Indians or the
members thereof. The patents aforesaid shall be recorded in the General
Land Office, and afterward delivered, free of charge, to the allottee
entitled thereto. And if any religious society or other organization is
now occupying any of the public lands to which this act is applicable,
for religious or educational work among the Indians, the Secretary of
the Interior is hereby authorized to confirm such occupation to such
society or organization, in quantity not exceeding one hundred and sixty
acres in any one tract, so long as the same shall be so occupied, on
such terms as he shall deem just; but nothing herein contained shall
change or alter any claim of such society for religious or educational
purposes heretofore granted by law. And hereafter in the employment of
Indian police, or any other employee in the public service among any of
the Indian tribes or bands affected by this act, and where Indians can
perform the duties required, those Indians who have availed themselves
of the provisions of this act and become citizens of the United States
shall be preferred.
Sec. 6.
That upon the completion of said allotments and the patenting of the
lands to said allottees, each and every member of the respective bands
or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have the
benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the
State or Territory in which they may reside; and no Territory shall pass
or enforce any law denying any such Indian within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the law. And every Indian born within the territorial
limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made
under the provision of this act, or under any law or treat, and every
Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has
voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and
apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of
civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen off the United
States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of
such citizens, whether said Indian has been or not, by birth or
otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians within the territorial
limits of the United States without in any manner impairing or otherwise
affecting the right of any such Indian to tribal or other property.
Sec. 7.
That in cases where the use of water for irrigation is necessary to
render the lands within any Indian reservation available for
agricultural purposes, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is
hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may
deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof among the
Indians residing upon any such reservations; and no other appropriation
or grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall be authorized or
permitted to the damage of any other riparian proprietor.
Sec. 8.
That the provision of this act shall not extend to the territory
occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and
Osage, Miamies and Peorias, and Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian Territory,
nor to any of the reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians
in the State of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the State of
Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by executive
order.
Sec. 9.
That for the purpose of making the surveys and resurveys mentioned in
section two of this act, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of
any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one
hundred thousand dollars, to be repaid proportionately out of the
proceeds of the sales of such land as may be acquired from the Indians
under the provisions of this act.
Sec. 10.
That nothing in this act shall be so construed as 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 to condemn such
lands to public uses, upon making just compensations.
Sec. ll.
That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent the removal
of the Southern Ute Indians from their present reservation in
Southwestern Colorado to a new reservation by and with the consent of a
majority of the adult male members of said tribe.
Approved, February 8,1887.
United States Statutes at Large, XXIV, 388-91
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