The presumed inability of Native peoples to work thus rendered them in a perpetual state of childhood (childhood being marked by the period of life in which one cannot be a proper worker). The colonial project then consisted of forcing Native peoples to mature into adulthood through work as defined by capitalism. For instance, the Dawes Allotment Act, which divided indigenous lands into individual allotments, was deemed necessary because only through individual property ownership could Native peoples have a need to work.
