The Dawes Act was named after its supporter, Senator Henry L. Dawes. The act pretty much tried to americanize Indians and send them to Oklahoma. The government gave each Native American in a family 160 acres of land or 320 acres of grazing land in Oklahoma and gave 80 acres to each unmarried adult. In some ways, I think that it's fair, but then again, I dont think it is. It wasn't really a good thing to try to Americanize the Indians. Especially making them go to Oklahoma, but then again, giving them land sorta makes up for it. In 1887 congress passed this act.By 1932, whites had taken most of the land in the reservation set aside for the Indians. The act lasted until two years later in 1934. One of Senator Dawes' goals was to make them into farmers and give them the tools they needed for citizenship. The land that was the Native Americans land, was then up for grabs to the whites. The land that was given to the Native Americans wasnt controlled much by themselves, and they lost most of their land. Indians didn't get very much money for the land that they lost and gave up. Even the ones who did get money, and a lot of it, spent it very quickly.
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