What are the provisions of the Dawes plan

The Dawes Act was a plan that reorganized the territory of Native Americans in the US. Instead of land being owned communally (by the entire community) the plots of land were broken up into 160 acre lots, in which each family would receive.

From there, families would be expected to take up farming in order to be more assimilated into American culture. The ultimate goal would be to prove themselves as self-sufficient farmers. The federal government made it so that if the Native American family proved their abilities as farmers (over a 25 year stretch) they would gain acknowledgement of their competencies and receive complete ownership of the land.

If the family failed at farming before the 25 year period was over, the land would go back to belonging to the government. From there, the government would sell the land to someone else (usually white settlers).