Cherokee Vs Georgia Case Study

The Cherokee people were forced out of their land because of the settler’s greed for everything and anything the land had to offer. Many Cherokee even embraced the “civilization program,” abandoning their own beliefs so that they may be accepted by white settlers. Unfortunately for the Cherokee though, the settlers would never accept them as an equal citizen. A quote from historian Richard White says it very well, “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t. All these things that Americans would proudly see as the hallmarks of civilization are going to the West by Indian people. They do everything they were asked except one thing. What the Cherokees ultimately

In 1830, gold was found in Western Georgia. Unfortunately, The Cherokee had lots of land there. Settlers ignored that and began to invade western Georgia. President Andrew Jackson then decided to sign the Indian Removal Act, because he believed that assimilation wouldn’t work. This act gave him power to order the removal of any tribe at any time. In 1835, The Treaty of New Echota was signed, which said that the Cherokee would leave their land and walk to Oklahoma. They refused to leave so after two years, they were forced out. Andrew Jackson and the U.S. Government had many reasons for the removal of the Cherokee people, but the Cherokee also had many reasons for why it shouldn’t have happened. Eventually, their removal had devastating effects on the Cherokee culture.

Gold was discovered near Cherokee territory in Georgia. As result, Georgia desired to remove the Cherokees and relocate the Cherokees to lands west of the Mississippi river. This struck a major debate. Andrew Jackson was known to support the removal of Native Americans, so the state of Georgia took advantage of the scenario. With little difficulty, the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The Cherokees did not relocate without a civilized fight. They sent several documents to Congress to argue their case. These documents included three arguments to support the sovereignty of the Cherokee nation. These three arguments were Great Britain saw the Cherokees as separated nation from the Colonists, George Washington saw them as an independent nation, and the Cherokees had the same natural rights as the United States.

The Cherokee are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Although they were not considered states at this time, they would have been in present day Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. However, in 1938 the Cherokees found an abundant amount of gold which left the United States in a scramble. Thus, President Johnson signed the removal act, which forced the Cherokees East of the Mississippi into the Great Plains and then went into dig up gold. The Cherokees thrived in the Great Plains, becoming farmers and excellent hunters. They settled along the Arkansas River, becoming fisherman. Just as it happened in 1938 the Cherokees were eventually forced off their lands and into the Oregon Territory. This trail they walked along was called the trail of tears, many Cherokees died because of food deprivation or various diseases. Today, this Trail of Tears is seen as the worst displays of discrimination in the history of the United States. Thus, we gave the Cherokees Reservations to live on in the Western United States. This journey they faced is arguably the hardest journey any tribe has ever faced and the way the Cherokees overcame this and turned their tribe into what it is today is what makes it special.

When the precious mineral gold was discovered in Indian Territory, the US government had a new perspective about the Native Americans. Even before the US government leaders had discussed about the Indian Removal Act, which became even more tempting after the gold was discovered.

The Cherokee role in the American society was an ongoing battle amongst closed minds and sheer ignorance to rights of original land owners. For years the fight over land was the dividing instrument amongst the new citizens of a new, free country and the traditions of the Cherokee people was being pushed back into the west.

In 1832 gold was found on the land of Native American tribes. The government wanted to get the gold for themselves, so that pains many Native Americans for their land. One group of Native Americans, the Cherokees, refused to give up their land. There was a court ruling in the case Worcester vs. Georgia which officially made it unconstitutional to remove the Cherokees from their land. After the ruling Jackson was quoted in saying "John Marshall has made his decision now let him enforce it." Jackson then brought military forces into the Native Americans land and force them to walk to reservations. The trail that they walked to get to their reservations is now called the trail of tears because an estimated 7,000 to 13,000 Cherokees died along the path.

The Market Revolution adversely affected the liberty of Native Americans residing within the United States because they were seen as an obstacle to the country’s economic progress. As the Market Revolution ideas of commerce and expansion took hold in the minds of the people, these white citizens shared the view that Native Americans were hindering the goal of expansion. The citizens believed it was their God-sanctioned right to settle the West (Manifest Destiny) and the Native Americans stood in the way. Conflicts with Native Americans have existed in America since the first settlers, but with the increased emphasis on commerce and development brought by the Market Revolution, the relations worsened. In 1823, during the case of Johnson v M’Intosh, the Supreme Court claimed that Native Americans only had the “right of occupancy” on their land, and that they did not own it. In 1830, under Jackson’s administration, the Indian Removal Act was created which tried to move the 5 Civilized Tribes out of their lands.

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.

The Market Revolution adversely affected the liberty of Native Americans residing within the United States because they were seen as an obstacle to the country’s economic progress. As the Market Revolution ideas of commerce and expansion took hold in the minds of the people, these white citizens shared the view that Native Americans were hindering the goal of expansion. It was the United State’s God-ordained right to occupy and settle the land westward (Manifest Destiny), and the Native Americans were in the way. The conflicts with Native Americans has existed in America since the first settlers, but with the increased emphasis on commerce and development brought by the Market Revolution, the relations worsened. In 1823, during the case of Johnson v M’Intosh, the Supreme Court claimed that Native Americans only had the “right of occupancy” on their land, and that they did not own it. In 1830, under Jackson’s administration, the Indian Removal Act was created which tried to move the 5 Civilized Tribes out of their lands. Finally, in the Trail of Tears during 1838-1839, 18,000 Cherokee men, women, and children were forcibly removed from their lands and relocated to Oklahoma by federal soldiers. Soon

Through this Article, the author is showing the importance of greed. The Cherokee an Indian tribe owned Georgia as their territory, but in 1829 the gold rush resulted in Georgia. Mines in Georgia produced “300 ounces of gold a day” (Pauls). The greed of the white people seeing gold come in daily “demanded that the U.S. Congress devolve to the states the control of all real property owned by tribes and their members” (Pauls). This was approved by president Andrew Jackson with no authority the Indians were forced out of their land. Another act of greed happened when Indians in the southeast owned valuable farming land this “coveted by outsiders because they were located in prime agricultural areas and were very well developed” (Pauls). The greed

There has always been a big debate on whether the Cherokee Indians should have or should not have been removed from the land they resided on. Although the common consensus of the whites was for removal, and for the Cherokees it was against removal, there were some individuals on each side that disagreed with their groups’ decision. The Cherokee Indians should have been removed from their homeland because the Cherokees would not have been able to survive on their own with the way they were living, they would not have been able to exist amidst a white population, and if they were removed, the whites would have helped them create a new and prosperous civilization.

In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Cherokee didn’t consider themselves as a union with Georgia they considered them selves as a independant nation and said that Georgia cannot enforce laws on them. The United States Surpreme Court set aside Worcester’s verdict. This lead to a treaty still allowing withdrawals/ removals of

However, many of the members of the tribe disagreed and continued to move away to Arkansas to escape the shites. Some Americans could not wait for any further moving of the Indians, turned up on the Indian land, and started settling. Andrew Jackson wanted all of the Indians to be removed east of the Mississippi River so when he was elected President in 1828, the Indians were in trouble. Congress passed the Indian Removal Acts in 1830, which gave the President of the United States the power to force all the Indians to relocate west of the Mississippi. If that weren't enough of a reason to have the Indians leave the territory, gold was discovered in the Cherokee area that same year. At this point, people from all over were traveling to Georgia to find some fold for themselves.

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee