The Pros And Cons Of The Allotment Act

By the year 1920 many Indians have became U.S. citizens, though they did not enjoy the prosperity that other Americans enjoyed during this period. By 1926 the Allotment Act was recognized as a failure and the U.S. Department of Interior, commissioned a survey to document the failure of federal Indian policy (447). Eventually, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, which effectively ended the policy of further allotment and alienation of the Indian land. Even though Congress passed the IRA in 1934 and President Roosevelt signed the law the same year, none of the appropriations approved by this law became available until a year later in 1935 (514). The IRA was created with a noble intention of increasing the responsibility and self-governance of the Indians. However, the U.S. government did not fully recognize the Indian tribal rights and many decisions were still subject to approval, ultimately by the U.S. Secretary of Interior while still being under the supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). This process often limited the measure of self government and produced “unrepresentative minority tribal administration” (511). It …show more content…
federal government Indian policies (513-516). The IRA, also called the Wheeler-Howard Act (named after the two senators who sponsored the act), was aimed at decreasing the role of the federal government in Indians affair and encourage their self-governance. It prohibits the sale of Indian lands and allotment, except to the tribes. It restored the “surplus lands”, which were being sold to whites as per the Dawes Act. The IRA also promoted economic development in the community by providing them with a revolving loan fund. That is why the IRA still remains the basis for federal legislation concerning the Indian