The Dawes Act was an effort to radically transform Native cultures by emphasizing private property, hard work, and individualism over community, extended family and sharing of resources. In contemporary life, we still all feel a tension between social life (family, friends, community, etc.) on one side and career and money making on the other. There are only so many hours in a day, so inevitably we need to make choices in regards to where we want to put most of our times and energies. Unlike Native peoples in the 1800s, we have a choice regarding how we want to live our lives. There is no single good or bad choice. Whats important is to figure our if your life reflects your values in regards to the relative importance you assign to social life and/or career. How important or unimportant is social life to you? How about money and career? Consider how these values affect your life today, and whether you are satisfied or not with your current life choices in this regard. Also, make sure to comment on the following quote by Henry Dawes: The head chief told us that there was not a family in that whole nation [Cherokee] that had not a home of its own. There was not a pauper in that nation, and the nation did not owe a dollar. Yet the defect of the system was apparent. They have got as far as they can go, because they own their land in common. There is no enterprise to make your home any better than that of your neighbors. There is no selfishness, which is at the bottom of civilization. Until this people consent to give up their lands and divide them among their citizens so that each can own the land he cultivates, they will not make much progress.