The Dawes Act or General Allotment Act of 1887

Source: United States Statutes at Large 24:388-91

CHAP. 119.--An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty 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.

     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 the allotment of lands in severalty 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 grazng 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 otherwise
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 his act: Provided, That if any one entitled to an allotment
shall fail to make a selection vithin four years after the President shall
lirect 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 arc 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
therefor 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 severalty under the provisions of this act: And provided further,
That at any time 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 prescribed by Congress: Provided however, That all lands
adapted to agriculture, with or without irrigation so sold or released to the
United States by any Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for
the sale purpose of securing homes to actual settlers and shall be
disposed of by the United States to actual and bona fide settlers only
tracts not exceding 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 herefor except to the person so taking the same as and homestead,
or his heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy therof as
such homestead; and any conveyance of said lands taken as a
homestead, or any contract touching the same, or lieu 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 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 Inians 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 educationl 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 employes 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 ef said allotments and the patenting
of the lands to said allottees, each and every nmmber 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
provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, 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 of 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
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 reservation; and no oother appropriation
or grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall permitted to the damage
of any other riparian proprietor.

     SEC. 8. That the provisions 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 contained shall be so canstrued 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 condemn such lands to
public uses, upon making just compensation.

     SEC. 11. 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 consent of a
majority of the adult male members of said tribe.

     Approved, February, 8, 1887.