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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 therof 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 othenvise 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:
Provided,That 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 therefor 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
therefor 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 Indiall 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 territroial limits of the United
States to whom allotments shall have been made under the
provision of this act, or under anylaw 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 civlized 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 anv 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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