The primary goal of the Dawes Act (also known as the Dawes General Allotment Act) of 1887 was to assimilate Native American tribes into mainstream American society by breaking up their communal land holdings and allotting individual plots of land to Native American families. The federal government believed that by encouraging Native Americans to become farmers and landowners, they would adopt Western culture and customs, facilitate economic self-sufficiency, and ultimately lead to their integration into the United States.
