{"id":10596,"date":"2017-07-17T11:42:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T18:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/?p=10596"},"modified":"2017-07-16T08:43:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T15:43:01","slug":"the-dawes-act-apush-topics-to-study-for-test-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/the-dawes-act-apush-topics-to-study-for-test-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dawes Act: APUSH Topics to Study for Test Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dawes Act was an 1887 law concerning Native American lands. To successfully answer Dawes Act APUSH questions, be sure to understand the provisions in the law, as well as the consequences those provisions had on Native Americans.<\/p>\n

What is the Dawes Act?<\/h2>\n

The Dawes Act was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland in 1887. The law divided communal tribal land into lots to be owned by individual Native Americans. Once an individual owned land, he became an American citizen subject to state law and taxation. The purported goal of the act was to protect American Indian land from encroaching white settlers, and also to help native peoples economically by setting them up with land suitable for farming. The underlying goal of the act, however, was to weaken the communal way of life and government of the tribes. The act did this by forcing Native Americans into a Eurocentric lifestyle so that they would assimilate to the culture of white America.<\/p>\n

The act allotted 160 acres of land to each head of household and 80 acres to each single adult. The individual had 25 years to cultivate the land and prove himself competent. If the individual was deemed incompetent, the land went back to the federal government and was offered up for public sale, which usually meant the land was handed over to white settlers. After the reservation land was divided up among Native Americans, the surplus land was also offered to white settlers for purchase.<\/p>\n

Important years to note for the Dawes Act: <\/h2>\n