Supporters of the Dawes Act of 1887 expected it to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society by transforming them into individual landowners and farmers, thereby breaking up tribal communal landholding and social structures. They believed that allotting land to individual Native Americans and encouraging them to adopt "white" agricultural practices and lifestyles would lead to the gradual disappearance of Native American cultural identity and social cohesion. The act aimed to replace tribal governance with individual ownership, promote self-sufficiency through farming, and integrate Native Americans as U.S. citizens if they accepted allotments
. The supporters viewed this policy as a necessary reform to "civilize" Native Americans by turning them into Jeffersonian yeoman farmers, which was considered an ideal European-American way of life. They thought that by adopting private land ownership and agriculture, Native Americans would abandon their traditional communal and cultural ways and become part of the American social and economic mainstream. The act also intended to end the government's paternalistic oversight of Native peoples by making them responsible for their own land and livelihood
. In summary, supporters expected the Dawes Act to:
- Break up tribal lands into individual plots for Native American families.
- Encourage Native Americans to farm and live as independent landowners.
- Assimilate Native Americans culturally and socially into white American society.
- End tribal governance and communal landholding.
- Grant U.S. citizenship to those who accepted allotments
However, this policy led to devastating consequences, including massive loss of Native land, erosion of tribal social structures, and widespread poverty among Native Americans, outcomes that supporters did not fully anticipate
