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- The Dawes ActBefore the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee, the federal gov moved to destroy forever the tribal structure that had always been the cornerstone of Indian culture. Reversing its policy of almost 50 years of reservations where tribes were isolated, Congress abolished the practice of tribes owning reservations communally. The policy was designed to force Indians to become landowners and farmers, to abandon their collective society and culture and become part of white civilization. The Dawes Act of 1887 provided for the gradual elimination of tribal ownership of land and the allotment of tracts to owners: 160 acres to family heads, 80 to single adults, 40 to each dependent child. Adult owners got U.S. citizenship, but couldn't gain full title until 25 years. The Bureau of Indian Affairs promoted the idea of assimilation that lay behind it. They took Indian families onto their own land and forced children into white boarding schools. Indian religious rituals were stopped and Christianity was encouraged.
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