Allottment Act - An act passed in 1887 which gave the President of the United States power to divide any Indian Reservation into individual allotments, on which a twenty-five year trust period was to be imposed, and surplus lands not allotted were authorized to be sold.  The act has been considered unjust to the Indian, because his lands of 155,000,000 acres have shrunk to about 47,000,000 acres since its adoption;  the Indians themselves sell their allotments and "surplus lands" can legally be sold by the Government.

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[ Bureau of Indian Affairs ][ Indian Reorganization Act ]