Indian Reorganization Act partially reverses allotment policy

Congress enacts the Indian Reorganization Act on June 18, 1934, ending further allotment of tribal lands and encouraging tribal self-government under federally approved constitutions. The law is associated with Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier. The Act does not restore all land lost under allotment and imposes federal structures on tribal governance, but it marks a shift away from the assimilationist policy that had broken up Native land bases. Federal Native policy begins to move away from explicit forced assimilation, though within continuing colonial control.