What legislative act aimed to assimilate Native Americans by redistributing tribal lands to individuals?

The Dawes Act, passed in 1887, aimed to assimilate Native Americans into American society by breaking up tribal lands into individual plots. The legislation intended to transform Native Americans into independent farmers by allotting them smaller parcels of their tribes' communal land. Each Native American family was given a specific amount of land, typically 160 acres, while the surplus land was made available for sale to non-Native settlers. This act reflected the prevailing belief at the time that individual property ownership would encourage Native Americans to adopt Euro-American agricultural practices and abandon their communal lifestyles.

The act also had significant negative consequences, as it led to a substantial loss of tribal land and further undermined the social structure of Native American communities. The government’s push for assimilation often disregarded Native cultural practices and traditions, which were closely tied to communal land ownership. The Dawes Act is an important historical example of the U.S. government's policy toward Native Americans, emphasizing individualism at the expense of communal identity.