Which act sought to improve the conditions of American Indian life?

The Dawes Act aimed to improve the conditions of American Indian life by promoting individual land ownership and assimilating Native Americans into American society. Enacted in 1887, it divided communal tribal lands into smaller parcels and allotted them to individual Native American families. This approach was intended to encourage agriculture and integrate Native Americans into mainstream society by encouraging them to adopt Western practices.

While the Dawes Act was rooted in a goal of benefiting Native Americans by providing them with land and a path to citizenship, it also had negative consequences, such as the loss of tribal land and culture. Nonetheless, the act represented an attempt to alter the conditions of American Indian life by providing opportunities for economic advancement through land ownership and cultivation.

The other options do not focus on improving American Indian life in the same way. The Homestead Act facilitated westward expansion but was not specifically aimed at benefiting Native Americans. The Indian Removal Act forcibly relocated tribes from their ancestral lands, which led to significant suffering. The Indian Reorganization Act, though more supportive of native self-governance and a restoration of some land, came later and was not the focus of the options presented that specifically sought to directly improve individual conditions through land allocation.