To assimilate Native Americans and to encourage them to live more like white people.
Poster. The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887), adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891, and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. The Act was named for its creator, Senator Henry Laurens Dawes of Massachusetts. The objectives of the Dawes Act were to lift the Native Americans out of poverty and to stimulate assimilation of them into mainstream American society The Dawes Severalty Act was a law passed in 1887. Its purpose was to try to assimilate Native Americans and to encourage them to live more like white people. It can also be argued that a purpose of the law was to make it easier to take reservation lands away from the Native Americans.  The Dawes Act was put in act on February 8, 1887 regarding the distribution of land to Native Americans in Oklahoma. Named after its sponsor, U.S. Senator Henry L. Dawes … of Massachusetts, the act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. The act remained in effect until 1934. The Dawes Act of 1887 was a U.S. land-distribution law proposed by Sen. Henry L. Dawes (1816-1903) of Massachusetts as a way to civilize and make farmers of the American Ind … ians. Review the provisions at the link provided below. Dawes Act (1887). Citation: An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations (General Allotment Act or Dawes Act), Statutes at Large 24, 388-91, NADP Document A1887. How to use citation info. (on Archives.gov). Approved on February 8, 1887, An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations, known as the Dawes Act, emphasized severalty, the treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes. The purpose of the Dawes Act and the subsequent acts that extended its initial provisions was purportedly to protect Indian property rights, particularly during the land rushes of the 1890s, but in many instances the results were vastly different. Always let your conscience be your guide.: Penny Kaye has a BS degree in Elementary Education. The intent of the Dawes Act of 1887, or the General Allotment Act, was to break up the tribes and stimulate assimilation of Indians into American society. Tribal land was to be divided into allotments for individual ownership of the land and to make independent farmers out of the Indians.  Effects of the Dawes Act: The provisions of the Dawes Severalty Act were not upheld by the United States government—the amount of land allotted to the natives depleted from roughly 150 million acres to 78 million acres in 1900. The 50% depletion was regarded as a surplus and usurped by the government. Dawes Act. Dawes Act or General Allotment Act, 1887, passed by the U.S. Congress to provide for the granting of landholdings (allotments, usually 160 acres/65 hectares) to individual Native Americans, replacing communal tribal holdings.  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. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/dawes-severalty-act-255846 http://www.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_purpose_of_the_dawes_act http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=50 http://www.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_purpose_of_the_dawes_act_of_1887 http://constitution.laws.com/dawes-act http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/dawes-act.html http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=50&page=transcript
what was the purpose of the dawes act