The U.S. Federal Government began the policy of allotting Indian land as early as 1798. Several treaties with Indian tribes included provisions that stated land would be divided among their individual members. After 1871, however, Congress declared that no further treaties would be made and all future dealings with Indians would be conducted through legislation. Although Congress passed a few acts that allotted land on specific Indian reservations, there was no vehicle to allot lands to individual Indians across the United States. Eventually, there was a push for a national federal policy to break up Indian land and assimilate native people.

The allotment advocates had several reasons for supporting allotment. First, they considered the Indian way of life and collective use of land as communistic and backwards. They also saw the ownership of private property as an essential part of civilization that would give Indians a reason to stay in one place, cultivate land, disregard the cohesiveness of the tribe, and adopt the habits, practices, and interests of the new settler population. Furthermore, many thought that Indians had too much land. These people were eager to see Indian lands opened up for settlement as well as for railroads, mining, or forestry.

The allotment advocates eventually succeeded in convincing the federal government to adopt the policy nationally. In 1887, Congress passed the General Allotment Act. The Allotment Act was applied to reservations by the president whenever, in his opinion, it was advantageous for particular Indian tribes. Members of the selected tribe or reservation were given permission to select pieces of land—usually around 40 to 160 acres in size—for themselves and their children. If the amount of reservation land exceeded the amount needed for allotment, then the federal government could negotiate to purchase the land from the tribes and then sell it to non-tribal settlers. Sixty million acres were either ceded outright or sold to non-Indian homesteaders and corporations as “surplus lands”.

Furthermore, under the policy of allotment, Indian land ownership was not the same as land ownership for other homesteaders. A non-Indian settler could sell (or “alienate”) his land because he had complete (“fee simple”) ownership. Under the General Allotment Act, Indians had only partial ownership because the United States considered itself to have legal title to the land. Indians only had beneficial (“equitable” or “usufruct”) title. In other words, while the allotment was held “in trust” by the federal government, the Indian landholder could use the land but not sell it. However, the act stated that 25 years after the allotment was issued, Indians would be given complete, fee simple ownership of the land. At that point, the landholder could sell it to anyone.

  
 
 
  Although the General Allotment Act was the first major piece of legislation designed to allot Indian reservations across the United States, many other tribes were allotted at different times under special legislation. These acts usually are similar to the General Allotment Act but often contain special provisions. These acts and pre-Dawes Act treaties can be found in the Tribe/Reservation Specific Information section.  
 

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