General Allotment Act

Examples of General Allotment Act in the following topics:

• American Indian Policy

  • In 1887, the United States Congress passed the General Allotment Act, which is considered one of the earliest attempts aimed toward assimilation of native tribes.
  • Under the General Allotment Act, tribal lands were no longer under the control of tribal governments.
  • Allotment did not work because it was not something with which Indians were familiar.
  • The Dawes Act, also called General Allotment Act, or Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians.
  • The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act.

• The Dawes Act and Indian Land Allotment

  • The Dawes Act, also called General Allotment Act, or Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians.
  • The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act.
  • The Dawes Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L.
  • Kidwell, "Allotment," Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture].
  • Summarize the effects of the Dawes Act on Native American society

• Agricultural Initiatives and Recovery

  • With lower prices, farmers produced even more of whatever had the highest potential to generate profit.
  • The legislation that aimed to achieve this goal was the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), one of the New Deal's flagship but also most controversial programs.  
  • The money for the subsidies were to be generated from tax imposed on companies that processed farm products.
  • In the aftermath of this decision, the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 followed.
  • Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1936): Allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production in order to conserve soil and prevent erosion.

• The Coercive Acts

  • Many colonists, however, viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of their rights.
  • The first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party was the Boston Port Act.
  • The Massachusetts Government Act provoked even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government.
  • Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least amount of protest of the Coercive Acts.
  • The citizens of Boston viewed the Coercive Acts as an act of unnecessary and cruel punishment that inflamed outrage against Britain even further.

• The Acts of Parliament

  • Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of forces in British North America, and other British officers who fought in the French and Indian War, were finding it hard to persuade colonial assemblies to pay for the quartering and provisioning of troops on the march.
  • Following the expiration of an act that provided British regulars with quartering in New York, Parliament passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which went far beyond what Gage had requested.
  • An amendment to the original Quartering Act was passed on June 2, 1774.
  • This act was passed and enforced along with many others, known by the colonists as the "Intolerable Acts."  
  • This act expired on March 24, 1776.

• Conclusion: The Consequences of the British Parliamentary Acts

  • Each step the British took, however, generated a backlash.
  • Outrage over the act created a degree of unity among otherwise unconnected American colonists, giving them a chance to act together both politically and socially.
  • Colonists’ joy over the repeal of the Stamp Act did not last long.
  • Like the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts led many colonists to work together against what they perceived to be an unconstitutional measure.
  • The Tea Act of 1773 triggered a reaction with far more significant consequences than either the 1765 Stamp Act or the 1767 Townshend Acts.

• The "Reign of Witches"

  • The "Reign of Witches" was a descriptive catchphrase used by Democratic-Republicans to criticize the Federalist Alien and Sedition Acts.
  • "The Reign of Witches" is a termed used by Democrat-Republicans to describe the Federalist party and John Adams after the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
  • In addition to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Democratic-Republicans cited the increasing size of a standing army, the Quasi-War with France, and a general expansion of federal power as evidence of the Federalists' corrupt designs for the United States.
  • Hence, Jefferson, Madison, and other Democratic-Republicans combatted the Alien and Sedtion acts by mobilizing widespread party support during the1800 election campagin and defending those persecuted under the legislation.
  • The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, in the midst of the French Revolution and the undeclared naval war with France, the Quasi-War.

• Civil Liberties in Wartime

  • The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 temporarily trumped Americans' rights to religious freedom and to freely speak, publish, or petition the government.
  • Those convicted generally received prison sentences of five to 20 years.
  • Enhancing federal authority under the Espionage Act, followed by the Sedition Act, was therefore necessary to prevent mobs from doing what the government could not.
  • President Wilson and his Attorney General, Thomas Watts Gregory, viewed the legislation as a political compromise.
  • Attorney General Thomas Gregory instructed Postmaster General Albert Burleson to censure and, if necessary, discontinue delivery of anti-American or pro-German mailings including letters, magazines and newspapers.

• The Sugar and Stamp Acts

  • The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the British Parliament of Great Britain in April of 1764.
  • The Molasses Act was set to expire in 1763.
  • Customs officials were empowered to have all violations tried in vice admiralty courts rather than by jury trials in local colonial courts, where colonial juries generally looked favorably on smuggling as a profession.
  • Members of Parliament and American agents in Great Britain did not expect the intensity of the protest that the tax would generate.
  • Define the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765

• The Townshend Acts

  • Five laws are frequently mentioned that are included in the Townshend Acts:
  • The first of the Townshend Acts, sometimes simply known as the Townshend Act, was the Revenue Act of 1767.
  • This act represented a new approach for generating tax revenue in the American colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766.
  • The original stated purpose of the Revenue Act and the following Townshend Acts was to raise revenue to pay the cost of maintaining an army in North America.
  • They helped end the Stamp Act in 1766.