biography
| name: |
Dawes, Henry Laurens
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1816–1903)
|
| biography:
| US representative and senator, born in Cummington, Massachusetts, USA. A lawyer, he was elected to the US House of Representatives (Republican, Massachusetts, 1857–75), and to the US Senate (1875–93) where he served as chairman of the senate committee on Indian affairs. He wrote the Dawes Severalty Act (1887) which granted homesteads and citizenship, after 25 years, to those Native Americans who renounced their tribal holdings. He then served as chairman of the Dawes Commission (1893), which was set up to resolve problems with the Five Civilized Tribes who lived in the Indian Territory. |
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