Kate and Sue McBeth, Missionary Teachers to the Nez Perce

1887

In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes General Allotment Act, which was designed to hasten the assimilation of Indians by breaking up reservations into individual family-sized farms. Each Indian adult was to receive up to 65 hectares (160 acres) and each minor child up to 32 hectares (80 acres). The government would hold the allotments in trust for 25 years, after which the Indian owner would be granted a patent in fee and thereafter could sell the land. Whatever reservation land was left over would be declared surplus and offered for sale to whites by the government. The act was initiated by well-meaning white reformers, mostly in the East, who believed that giving each Indian family its own plot of land would break down tribal relationships, end reservations, and hasten the economic and social improvement of the Indians by encouraging them to become industrious farmers. It was also supported, however, by many other whites who saw it as an opportunity to acquire "surplus" Indian lands. (pp. 163-164)