The Curtis Act of 1898 was an amendment to the U.S. General Allotment Act that brought about allotment of tribal government lands to individual members of the Five Tribes: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. These tribes were exempted from the 1887 General Allotment Act. Neal McCaleb, Ambassador At-Large for the Chickasaw Nation, explains that this new measure was intended to abolish tribal courts and governments, but ultimately failed to do so.