Henry L. Dawes

Henry Laurens Dawes
United States Senator
from Massachusetts
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1893
Preceded byWilliam B. Washburn
Succeeded byHenry Cabot Lodge
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts
In office
March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1875
Preceded byMark Trafton
Succeeded byChester W. Chapin
Constituency11th district (1857–1863)
10th district (1863–1873)
11th district (1873–1875)
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
from the Berkshire district
In office
1850
Preceded byJohn Z. Goodrich
William A. Phelps
Succeeded byRichard P. Brown
Asa G. Welch
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1848–1849
1852
Personal details
Born(1816-10-30)October 30, 1816
Cummington, Massachusetts, US
DiedFebruary 5, 1903(1903-02-05) (aged 86)
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
Political partyRepublican
Children5
Alma materYale University
ProfessionLawyer and Doctor
Signature

Henry Laurens Dawes (October 30, 1816 – February 5, 1903) was an attorney and politician, a Republican United States Senator and United States Representative from Massachusetts. He is notable for the Dawes Act (1887), which was intended to stimulate the assimilation of Native Americans by ending the tribal government and control of communal lands. Especially directed at the tribes in Indian Territory, it provided for the allotment of tribal lands to individual households of tribal members, and for their being granted United States citizenship. This also made them subject to state and federal taxes. In addition, extinguishing tribal land claims in this territory later enabled the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907.