Name four ways in which the Dawes Act failed to meet the needs of Native Americans.

The Dawes Act of 1887 was meant to get the Native Americans to give up their communal land ownership practices in return for U.S. citizenship.  While the natives did achieve citizenship, they lost a lot more.  Under the plan, land was parceled out to families instead of being owned by the entire tribe.  In many cases, land that was not allocated was deemed "surplus" and sold to the highest bidder.  Many non-natives moved in on this land rush, and in some cases, these people were criminals looking to escape legal jurisdiction elsewhere.  The allocation of land crushed what was left of native culture, as the men were told to farm or starve according to the social mores of the period.  The land in the West was often too arid to farm one plot of land intensively, and many Native Americans ended up selling their plot to non-natives.  Close to one hundred thousand natives were left landless as a result of this treaty.  The treaty was also harsh on women; before the treaty, women could divorce their husbands freely according to tribal laws.  After the treaty, women had to stay married in order to receive their family's allotment of land.  The Dawes Act, meant to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream white culture, only further impoverished them.