Dawes, Henry Laurens

Dawes, Henry Laurens

(1816–1903) U.S. representative/senator; born in Cummington, Mass. A lawyer, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Rep., Mass.; 1857–75) and to the U.S. Senate (1875–93); in the latter he served as chairman of the senate committee on Indian affairs. He wrote the Dawes Severalty Act of 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.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.