Dawes Severalty Act, 1887 An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes. Based on this excerpt from the Dawes Severalty Act, United States domestic policy toward Native Americans in the late 1800s made an attempt to A) grant them full citizenship and due process. B) increase the land holdings of western tribes. C) force Native American Indians to give up their traditional cultures. D) give their tribal groups authority over their own governmental affairs.