Birth of Henry Laurens Dawes
Born in Cummington, Massachusetts; later serves in the House and Senate.
Role range: 1816-1903
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Henry Laurens Dawes Biography and Timeline
Follow Henry Laurens Dawes through 22 dated historical records for United States of America.
Henry Laurens Dawes, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
22Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1816–1898Years on this page
1816
1848
Massachusetts House
Serves in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Role range: 1848-1849
1850
Massachusetts Senate
Serves in the Massachusetts Senate.
Role range: 1850-1850
1853
District Attorney
Serves as district attorney for the western district of Massachusetts.
Role range: 1853-1857
1857
House of Representatives
Takes his seat as a United States representative from Massachusetts.
Role range: 1857-1861 – 1857-1875
1861
Committee on Elections
Chairs the House Committee on Elections during the Civil War Congresses.
Role range: 1861-1865 – 1857-1875
1869
Committee on Appropriations
Chairs the House Appropriations Committee during the Forty-first Congress.
Role range: 1869-1877 – 1857-1875
1871
Ways and Means Committee
Chairs the House Ways and Means Committee in the early 1870s.
Role range: 1869-1877 – 1857-1875
1875
Senate
Begins service as a Republican senator from Massachusetts.
Role range: 1869-1877 – 1875-1893
1877
Public Buildings Committee
Chairs the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Role range: 1877-1881 – 1875-1893
1881
Indian Affairs Committee
Becomes chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Role range: 1881-1885 – 1875-1893
Senate Reelection
Reelected to the United States Senate from Massachusetts.
Role range: 1881-1885 – 1875-1893
1887
Allotment
The Dawes Act authorizes division of reservation land into individual allotments.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
Dawes Act
Senator Henry Dawes sponsors the General Allotment Act, authorizing allotment of tribal lands to individual Native Americans.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
Dawes Act
The General Allotment Act is named for Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
Native American Policy
The Dawes Act seeks assimilation through individual landholding and changes in tribal land tenure.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
Rule of Indian Territories
The Dawes Act permits reservation land to be broken into allotments while surplus land can pass from tribal control.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
Senate Reelection
Reelected to a third Senate term from Massachusetts.
Role range: 1885-1889 – 1875-1893
1893
Dawes Commission
Congress authorizes a commission to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes.
Role range: 1893-1897 – 1893-1903
Five Civilized Tribes
Appointed first chairman of the commission later known as the Dawes Commission.
Role range: 1893-1897 – 1893-1903
Tribal Allotment
Begins negotiations aimed at dividing communal tribal lands into individual allotments.
Role range: 1893-1897 – 1893-1903
1898
Dawes Rolls
The commission's enrollment work contributes to records later known as the Dawes Rolls.
Role range: 1897-1901 – 1893-1903
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.