Dawes Severalty Act. (1887)
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 for 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 grazing 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 this act: Provided, That if any one entitled to an
allotment shall fail to make a selection within four years after the President shall
direct 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 election 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 are 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 situated 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 shall also be
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 sole purpose of securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the
United States to actual and bona fide settlers only in tracts not exceeding 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 therefor except to the person so taking the same as and for a
homestead, or his heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy thereof as such
homestead; and any conveyance of said lands so taken as a homestead, or any contract
touching the same, or lien 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 of 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
Indians 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 educational 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 employees 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 of said allotments and the patenting of the lands to
said allottees, each and every member 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 impairing or otherwise 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 reservations; and no other appropriation or grant of water by any
riparian proprietor shall be authorized or permitted to the damage of any other riparian
proprietor.
Sec. 8. That the provision 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 construed as 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 to 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 the consent of a majority of the adult male members of said tribe.
Approved, February 8, 1887.
See also: [John W. Noble,] Secretary of the Interior,
Rules of Indian Courts and “What is an Indian?”
Executive Doc. 1, Part 5, House of Representatives, 52d Congress, 2d Session, pp. 28-37.
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