what was the purpose of the dawes general allotment act?

The purpose of the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 was to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society by transforming their communal tribal land ownership into a system of individual private property ownership. The act authorized the President to divide tribal lands into allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals, typically granting 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land per family head. This was intended to encourage Native Americans to adopt farming and ranching lifestyles aligned with Euro-American capitalist values, thereby "civilizing" them according to the prevailing attitudes of the time. By allotting land individually, the act aimed to break up tribal communal living and governance structures, undermining tribal sovereignty and culture. Native Americans who accepted allotments and adopted "habits of civilized life" were granted U.S. citizenship, but the act also led to massive loss of Native land. Surplus lands not allotted to Native Americans were declared open for sale to non- Native settlers, resulting in Native Americans losing about two-thirds of their land-over 90 million acres-within a few decades. The land allotted to Native Americans was held in trust by the government for 25 years before full ownership was granted, after which many lost their land due to taxes or sales to non-Natives. Overall, the Dawes Act was a federal policy designed to dissolve tribal landholdings and assimilate Native Americans into American society, but it resulted in significant dispossession and disruption of Native communities and cultures