American Indian Documents; Blood Quantum Name?

Question

Back in the early 1900's, the U.S Government would go on some Indian Reservations and get indians to sign off on some of their Blood Quantity. In exchange they would get like $200. What is the proper name for those documents? It isn't Blood Quantity or Blood Quantum.

Thanks Rust for your answer! It was indepth, but not exactly the answer I was looking for. The Dawes Act is basically like a huge tribal roll.

In the early 1900's, the government would come onto reservations and ask Indians if they wanted to basically trade off their blood quantity for money.
Let's say this indian was 100% Chippewa. The Government guys would go, "Why don't you sign this document saying you are just 80% Indian." In exchange the Indian would get about $200 bucks for signing. And since Indian records were scarce, the government guys would just make up a new birth record for that Indian with that new blood quantity. So while it might not affect that indian, it's offspring would have an incorrect(lowered) blood quantity.
This was a practice that was rather common in some tribes, yet widely unheard of. I am searching for the name of THAT blood document.

Again, thanks a lot for answering my question. I've scoured Wikipedia up and down for the doc name, but no luck.

Answer 1

Hey Wozzy,

From the DOI web site:
1884 Interior's Bureau of Labor is established
(becomes the Department of Labor in 1888).

1887-1889 The Interstate Commerce Commission is
established in Interior. The Dawes Act authorizes
allotments to Indians.

So, it follows that the US Government 'implemented' the Dawes Act, see the first site - the intent was to make tribes disappear.

Wikipedia give an account of the Blood Quantum Laws. This should answer your question.

Answer 2

A dna test is useless in this respect. For legal purposes, only an enrolled tribal member is considered "native american". So... how are you related to one? Doesn't matter what they claimed on the census, if they were enrolled tribal members, they were native. If they weren't enrolled in their tribe, they're legally not native. So find some relative who IS or WAS a tribal member, and figure out how you are related to them. Simple (oh, and tribal members can be checked by contacting the tribe itself and checking their rolls- they have VERY accurate records)

Answer 3

I have not found an answer for you, but I do have a suggestion on how / where you might be able to unearth the information you're seeking. Try "RezNet", a news and views organization for Native Americans.