In February 1887 Congress passed the Dawes General Allotment Act, sponsored by Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts. The act dissolved American Indian tribes as legal entities and divided tribal lands among individual members. Each head of the family received an allotment of 160 acres. Each single adult received 80 acres. Indians did not receive full ownership of their allotment, however, for 25 years. Any reservation land remaining after distribution of allotments to tribe members would be considered "surplus" and be made available to homesteaders. Under the act, the president of the United States or his representative could divide up reservation lands without the approval of the Indians living there. The Dawes Act responded to reformers’ arguments for the assimilation, or acceptance of, Indians into white society. Reformers wanted Indians to become farmers on individual plots of land. In May 1906 the Burke Act waived the 25-year waiting period for Indian land ownership. The Dawes Act significantly reduced Indians’ land holdings. By 1934 tribal holdings had decreased from 138 million acres in 1887 to 52 million. That same year Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed for the return of surplus lands to tribal ownership.
