Cherokee Nation Vs Georgia Case Analysis

The Treaty of Hopewell in 1785 established borders between the United States and the Cherokee Nation offered the Cherokees the right to send a “deputy” to Congress, and made American settlers in Cherokee territory subject to Cherokee law. With help from John Ross they helped protect the national territory. In 1825 the Cherokees capital was established, near present day Calhoun Georgia. The Cherokee National Council advised the United States that it would refuse future cession request and enacted a law prohibiting the sale of national land upon penalty of death. In 1827 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution, an act further removed by Georgia. But between the years of 1827 and 1831 the Georgia legislature extended the state’s jurisdiction over the Cherokee territory, passed laws purporting to abolish the Cherokees’ laws and government, and set in motion a process to seize the Cherokees’ lands, divide it into parcels, and other offer some to the lottery to the white Georgians.

On May 28, 1830 Andrew Jackson, the president at the time, signed the Indian Removal Act making it a law. The law gave the U.S. government the right to exchange land west of the Mississippi for Indian Territory in the state borders. Some tribes relocated peacefully, but most resisted the relocation. The United States government forced Cherokee Indians to move and 4,000 of them died being relocated giving the forced movement the name “Trail of Tears.”

In 1831, the Cherokee nation went to court against the state of Georgia. They were disputing the state’s attempt to hold jurisdiction over their territory. Unfortunately, because they are not under the laws of the constitution, the Indian’s right to court was denied. It was not until 1835 that the Cherokee finally agreed to sign the treaty, giving up their Georgia land for that of Oklahoma.

This was time of “Jacksonian Democracy” which was beneficial and appealed to the “common man.” The Election of 1828 is known as the dirtiest election of time because of the tactics used and the outcome. Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams were both running for a second time, last time being 1824. Those who favored John Quincy Adams were called National Republicans while those who favored Andrew Jackson were called Democratic Republicans.

On May 28, 1830, Jackson signed the Removal Act, which “authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.” (Legends, 1) As incentives to the Indians to sign the Removal treaties, the government promised financial assistance for relocation and the protection of the United States government forever. (Indian, 2) In 1831, the Choctaw were the first to leave under threat of United States Army invasion. They were forced to leave on foot without any supplies or food with some in chains. Thousands of Choctaw died. (Trail, 3) In 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed which forced the Cherokee to be removed during the Fall and Winter of 1838 and 1839. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died. (Legends, 2) In 1836, the Creeks were also forced from their land. 3,500 Creeks did not survive the journey. This forced march of more than 1,200 miles to the new Indian Territory became known as the Trail of Tears because of the thousands that died along the way from diseases and starvation. (Trail, 3-4) By 1837, President Andrew Jackson’s removal act had removed 46,000 Native Americans from their land, and he already had treaties in place for the removal of more. (Legends

Conversely, the Choctaws, Creeks, and the Chickasaws negotiated resettlement. Sadly, they never saw any of the promised federal money they were assured to receive. The Seminoles retreated into the swamp lands of Florida where from 1835 to 1842 they fought United States troops. In the end, only a few hundred eluded death or capture. Meanwhile, the Cherokee had been trying every available avenue to resist the removal policy. The immense majority of Cherokees did not want to move west, and their leadership, primarily John Ross, fought very hard against the removal. They fought the relocation in a number of ways, but there was one that was most significant. Their fight in Supreme Court brought a great deal of attention to the historians. In 1832, the Worcester v. Georgia case was handed down by the Supreme Court. This case recognized that the Cherokees did indeed have sovereign rights. It also recognized their existence as a “distinct community, occupying its own territory, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force” (The American Promise, 287). This decision was extremely important because it nullified Georgia law within the Cherokee

Indigenous people still burdened from their past! The effects of the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of tears still causes heartache among many Indigenous people. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was an act passed by Andrew Jackson where in which Andrew Jackson would discuss and negotiate a plan to remove the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole to land west of the Mississippi in exchange Europeans would get their homeland.Georgia and the government had no right treating indigenous people unfairly, evicting them from their homeland, and killing them in the process of it all. While this was all happening settlers were expanding into new territories, gaining many resources from the

Cherokee removal, part of the Trail of Tears, refers to the forced relocation between 1836 and 1839 of the Cherokee Nation from their lands in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Alabama to the Indian Territory in the then Western United States, and the resultant deaths along the way and at the end of the movement of an estimated 4000 Cherokee.

`The Cherokee Indians were a very modern group of Native Americans; they had successfully blended into the American way of life. For example, they made their government like the American way, translated the Bible, and even used American rules for owning property. Life for the Cherokee nation seemed to be going well, but in 1832 they would have to fight for their land. Gold was discovered in Georgia, so Georgians wanted to force the Cherokee Indians out, so they would have more gold. The Cherokee Indians fought in a nonviolent way; they sued. “In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), which followed a similar case from the ear before, Cherokee, Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee nation was a sovereign nation and that the state of Georgia

The glistening and seemingly useless plains west of the Mississippi did not compare to the nutritious lands east of the Mississippi - ideal for farming. Jackson desired the land for prospective colonists but knew that it was inhabited by the five civilized tribes: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. According to Jackson, he respected the natives but viewed them as “lower than that of whites.” Therefore, he had every right , in his mind, to move the natives - by treaty or by force. Most of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole subsided to the government and moved westward “safely”; Many died to exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and sickness during and after walk to their permanent lands. The Cherokee, however, opposed of the removal because they had made an effort to blend in to the colonists culture. Jackson still demanded they move westward; Again the Cherokee refused and military force was used. The walk is now known as the Trail of Tears. During the eighteen-thirties, many colonists viewed the removal as a positive economic change but in present day America, the removal has inadvertently costed the government billions of dollars. If Jackson were to predict that the government would pay the Native Americans billions for their troubles, he would still have followed through with the Indian Removal Act because his actions were not controlled by any external source of information; If Jackson was determined, then he was unstoppable.

In the long, dreadful path of sorrows, the trails bloodshed, and death, but eventually it is known as the "Trail of Tears." The Trail of Tears is the forceful relocation of the Native American communities, authorization of the Removal Act on the year 1830. Even so, the year 1838, Andrew Jackson’s policy of the Indians’ removal. The Cherokee tribe was involuntary to surrender the land to the east of the Mississippi River and migrate to the place known as Oklahoma to the present day.

With help from the U.S. Army thousands of Cherokee Indians were loaded up into boats leaving behind everything they had. There homes were raided and livestock and crops were also taken by the federal government. The Cherokee Indians were now headed to Indian Territory so they thought. What they would later realize, they would be traveling “The Trail of Tears”. Most was shipped off to the territory located in Oklahoma but many were held in prison camps. There many would die from starvation and disease never to reach the new land. Others were sent out on foot between June and December 1838 for the nearly 1,000 mile journey through snow and mountains. The trip would take about 6 months to

Around the 1830s, the Indian removal act was created. This act gave the “American man” the right to come into Indiana territory and move them to another area to claim the land as their own. The trail started in Northern Georgia in 1831 and ended in Oklahoma in 1840. At the beginning, they gathered all Indians, mainly Cherokee into stock holds for months at a time. When summer hit, sicknesses started to outbreak. Many of the Cherokee were becoming very ill. When they began moving the Cherokee, they made they walk a minimum of ten miles a day before rest. At the beginning of the move, there were around five thousand Cherokee Indians. Due to the illnesses, lack of food and clothing, and terrible weather conditions one fourth of the Cherokee tribe, mainly

The Cherokee Nation v. Georgia case is also important to talk about when trying to explain the thoughts the Supreme Court had on the status of Native American’s. This case can be seen as one of the most hateful towards an Indian tribe, as it stripped away the basic human rights of the Cherokee nation held within their own legal tribal boundaries. Not only was the state of Georgia against the tribe but it seems as though the Supreme Court was as well. As they ruled that the Cherokee Nation was a dependent nation of the United States and that Indian tribes were not sovereign nations according to article three of the constitution. Again justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the court stating that ‘Their (Their meaning Native Americans) relation

Many people know the outcome of the Trail of Tears, but they are not aware of the events that came before. The idea of removing Native Americans gained momentum after the population of the colonies was expanding dramatically and whites wanted to settle into lands occupied by the Native people. Jefferson agreed with this idea so he created the Indian Removal Act, which gave payments for the Native Americans to move to the Okla territory. Leaders from the Cherokee and other tribes signed the treaty then fled, leaving behind 17,000 people who refused to honor the treaty. The government took action in 1838 when General Winfield Scott, accompanied by 7,000 troops forced the Cherokee to leave and as a result thousands of people died as they marched