The United States federal government began the policy of allotting American Indian land as early as 1798. Several treaties with Indian tribes included provisions that stated land would be divided among individual tribal members. After 1871, however, Congress declared that no further treaties would be made and all future dealings with Indian nations would be conducted through legislation.
in 1902 legislation known as the 'Dead Indian Act' was passed that allowed Indian landowners to sell lands they inherited even if they were still in trust. In 1906, the Burke Act was passed, which authorized the secretary of the interior to decide whether an Indian person was 'competent' to manage his or her lands. If the Indian person was deemed 'competent', the secretary could take the land out of trust and the land would become taxable. The secretary of the interior was authorized to do this with or without the knowledge and/or against the wishes of the allottee. Thus, many Indian people ended up having their land sold in tax forclosure auctions because they owed taxes on land they thought was in trust.
So much Indian land was passing out of Indian hands that even the U.S. government became alarmed.
Allotment not only caused 90 million acres of Indian land to be removed from Indian ownership and control, its impact continues to have serious consequences today.
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