and they interfered in state and local politics to elect favourites tooffice, to block unfriendly legislation, and even to influence thedecisions of the courts.Indian policyLarge tracts of land in the West were reserved by law for theexclusive use of specified Indian tribes. By 1870, however, theinvasion of these lands by hordes of prospectors, by cattlemen andfarmers, and by the transcontinental railroads had resulted in theoutbreak of a series of savage Indian wars and had raised seriousquestions about the government's Indian policies. Many agents ofthe Bureau of Indian Affairs were lax in their responsibility fordealing directly with the tribes, and some were corrupt in thedischarge of their duties. Most Westerners and some army officerscontended that the only satisfactory resolution of the Indian questionwas the removal of the tribes from all lands coveted by the whites.(See North American Indian.) In the immediate postwar years, reformers advocated adoption ofprograms designed to prepare the Indians for ultimate assimilationinto American society. In 1869 the reformers persuaded PresidentGrant and Congress to establish a nonpolitical Board of IndianCommissioners to supervise the administration of relations betweenthe government and the Indians. The board, however, encounteredso much political opposition that it accomplished little. Thereformers then proposed legislation to grant title for specificacreages of land to the head of each family in those tribes thought tobe ready to adopt a sedentary life as farmers. Congress resisted thatproposal until land-hungry Westerners discovered that, if the landwere thus distributed, a vast surplus of land would result that couldbe added to the public domain. When land speculators joined thereformers in support of the proposed legislation, Congress in 1887enacted the Dawes Act, which empowered the president to granttitle to 160 acres (65 hectares) to the head of each family, withsmaller allotment...
