"The President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation... is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation... to be surveyed... and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon... to each head of a family, one-quarter of a section." — Dawes Severalty Act, 1887
Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 "Frontier Thesis" interpreted policies like the Dawes Act as part of which larger narrative?
- A
The growth of urban industrial capitalism as a substitute for rural life
- B
The persistence of Native sovereignty as a check on federal power
- C
The rise of progressive reform movements after 1890
- Dcheck_circle
The closing of the frontier as the formative force in shaping American democracy
Explanation
Turner argued that successive frontiers had shaped American character and that the 1890 census's declaration of the frontier "closed" marked a historical turning point. Allotment was part of the federal project of finally settling the West.