The Dawes Rolls were created by the Dawes Commission. The Commission, authorized by United States Congress in 1893, was required to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes to convince them to agree to an allotment plan and dissolution of the reservation system. One of the consequences was the creation of rolls of the members of the five tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole). The rolls were needed to assign the allotments and to provide an equitable division of all monies obtained. These rolls became known as the Dawes Rolls. The Dawes Commission was quickly flooded by applicants from all over the country trying to get on the rolls.
The Commission went to the individual tribes to obtain the membership lists but the first attempts were inadequate. Finally Congress passed the Curtis Act in 1898 which had a provision that a new roll would be taken and supersede all previous rolls.
Tribal citizens were enrolled under several categories:
Delaware Indians (those adopted by the Cherokee tribe were enrolled as a separate group within the Cherokee)
More that 250,000 people applied for membership, and the Dawes Commission enrolled just over 100,000. An act of Congress on April 26, 1906, closed the rolls on March 5, 1907. An additional 312 persons were enrolled under an act approved August 1, 1914.
The rolls are, for the most part, considered complete. Some Indians did not apply because of their displeasure with the allotment process and others applied but were rejected because of the residency requirements. Generally, though, to prove membership in any of the Five Civilized Tribes you must prove descent from a person listed as a citizen on the final rolls. Courts have upheld this rule even when it has been proven that a brother or sister was listed on the rolls and the other was not.
The DawesRolls (or Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, or Dawes Commission of Final Rolls) were created by the Dawes Commission.
The Rolls remain important today as several tribes use descent from DawesRoll members as a requirement for tribal membership and the federal government uses them in determining status for Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood.
The Dawes Commission, set up under an Indian Office appropriation bill in 1893, was created, not to administer the Act, but to attempt to get the tribes excluded under the Act to agree to the allotment plan.
It was this commission that registered the members of the Five Civilized Tribes and many Indian names appear on the rolls.
Against the Act were the meat-packing industry, the huge ranching associations leasing the Indian land, and the Five Civilized Tribes —all well-funded and having great influence in Washington.
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