Dawes Act Simulation
Directions:
You are going to be doing a hands-on simulation of the results of the Dawes Act for American
Indians. Carefully follow each step.
1.
Choose a piece of colored paper.
2.
This paper represents Indian tribal lands (lands belonging to Indians), so at the
top of your paper, label it, “Indian Tribal Lands”.
3.
First you’re going to be finding the area of the paper in inches. (Area= length X
height) Find a ruler and measure the length and height of the paper and do the math
to calculate the area of the paper.
4.
In your notebook, record the area of your paper like this:
Area of Original Indian Tribal Lands =
5.
Originally, the Indian Tribal Lands were the shared property of Indian tribes.
To show this, draw 6 dots (dot = Indian tribal member) spread out all over your
paper, then draw lines connecting all the dots with each other to show the tribal
bonds.
6.
Now, according to the Dawes Act, individual Indians were now given private
ownership of a small piece of land- rather than entire tribes sharing large pieces of
land. To show this, around each dot (Indian tribal member) draw a 1 inch by 1 inch
“fence” (square).
7.
Calculate the area of the land owned by Indians NOW by adding up the areas of
each six fenced in squares. Record this new area of Indian land in your notebook like
this:
Area of Indian Lands AFTER Dawes Act =
8.
In a complete sentence in your notebook, write an observation about what
happened to the size of Indian land as a result of the Dawes Act like this:
As a result of the Dawes Act…
9.
Any land that is leftover or “extra” that is NOT fenced in, shade in with slanted
lines. This “extra” land was now sold to white settlers.
10.
To find the area of the land now given to white settlers, subtract:
Area of Original Indian Tribal Lands – Area of Indian Lands AFTER the Dawes Act =
Area of Land Now Belonging to White Settlers. Record this in your notebook like this:
Area of Land Now Belonging to White Settlers =