Question

What was the effect of the dawes act on native american tribes

Answer 1

It was approved by Congress in 1887 and it gave the President of the United States the authority to survey Indian lands and broke it up into allotments for individual Indians.  Indians who would live apart from the tribe were given U.S. citizenship.  It was authored by Henry Lawrence Dawes with the goal of assimilate the Natives to part of American society.  Excess land was put up for sale to non-Natives after allotment.  It broke the communal property of the tribes and led to the decrease of land for natives. Many saw this as a means to destroy the tribes and take their land for the railroads to be constructed.  Many Indians were  put on reservations after losing their lands.