Cherokee Judicial Efforts
Yesterday we learned from the stories of survivors of the Trail of Tears and learned more about Cherokee resistance to westward expansion. Today we will continue to learn about the efforts the Cherokee nation used to resist westward expansion. We will learn about a court case that led to the Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation in the 1830s of Native Americans from the southeastern U.S. to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to write about the importance of the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832)
I recommend you either complete the reading I wrote and answer the questions about the reading or watch the video by Mr. Beat and answer the questions about the content of the video. You can print out the lesson using the documents below.
Source: Cherokee Lands Map 1830, National Park Service
Vocabulary
Missionary: someone sent on a mission--especially a religious or charitable mission to a foreign country
Unjust: not fair
License: a legal document giving official permission to do something
Petition: write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing
Sovereignty: government free from external control
Unconstitutional: not consistent with or according to a constitution; contrary to the U.S. Constitution
Convicted: pronounced or proved guilty in a court of law
Supreme Court: the highest federal court in the United States; has final appellate jurisdiction and has jurisdiction over all other courts in the nation
Option 1: Reading about Worcester v. Georgia
In the 1820's Georgia passed laws taking away the rights of Cherokee.
Samuel Worcester was a missionary working with the Cherokee Nation to resist the Georgian laws taking away the rights of Cherokee. He was invited to stay in the Cherokee Nation and help them use the courts to fight against unjust laws.
In 1830 Georgia passed a law banning all white men from living on Native American land without a state license and swearing an oath of loyalty to Georgia.
Worcester and eleven other missionaries protested the law by signing a petition. Georgia argued the law was meant to stop white settlement on Cherokee territory, protecting Cherokee land from white settlers. However, Worcester argued that obeying the law would, in effect, be surrendering the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation to manage their own territory.
Samuel Worcester argued this Georgia law was unconstitutional because the States or even the United States can't control the laws of other countries. If Georgia could arrest people for being on Cherokee land that means that Cherokee Nation didn't have control over its own land and was not its own nation.
Samuel Worcester refused to get a license from Georgia to stay in Cherokee land. The Georgia state militia arrested Worcester and the others who signed the petition and refused to get a license. Samuel Worcester and a few others were convicted to four years hard labor.
One of the ways people fight laws and decisions they believe are unjust is by petitioning the Supreme Court to hear their case. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The Supreme Court also agreed with Samuel Worcester. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in the decision: "the Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights as the undisputed possessors of the soil." The Supreme Court decided that Georgia didn't have the right to make laws controlling Cherokee Nation. The Supreme Court also decided that Georgia's conviction of Samuel Worcester was unjust.
Georgia and the US government disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision. Georgia ignored the Supreme Court's decision and kept him imprisoned. It is rumored that Andrew Jackson said: "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"
In 1835 the US Government and 500 Cherokees claiming to represent the Cherokee Nation signed the Treaty of New Echota. The Treaty of New Echota exchanged 7 million acres of Cherokee land for 5 million US dollars and land in Oklahoma. The Treaty of New Echota lead to the Trail of Tears and the removal of Cherokee from their land.
Worcester v. Georgia did not have an immediate impact on the sovereignty of Native American Nations. However, it was used in later Supreme Court cases to establish the independence of Native American Nations and their ability to make their own laws.
Written by Chris Turowski using information from Britannica.com and the decision in Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832).
Option 1 Task: Answer Questions about the Reading
1. Who was Samuel Worcester?
2. What law did Georgia pass?
3. Why did Georgia say it passed the law requiring white men living on Cherokee land to get a license and swear their loyalty to Georgia?
4. Why did Samuel Worcester think Georgia passed the law?
5. Why did Samuel Worcester think the law was unconstitutional?
6. What happened when Samuel Worcester refused to get a license from Georgia to stay in Cherokee Nation?
7. What did the Supreme Court decide?
8. How did Georgia react to the Supreme Court's decision?
9. What was the Treaty of New Echota?
10. If someone were to ask you why the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia was important what would you tell them? Either write a paragraph about what you would say or tell someone who knows nothing about this your answer. Make sure you restate the question.
Option 2: Video about Worcester v. Georgia
Source: When The Supreme Court Tried to Prevent Indian Removal, Worcester v. Georgia, Mr. Beat
Answer the questions below using the video above from Mr. Beat. Feel free to watch the video a couple of times if you need to. I have shared timestamps next to the questions showing you when in the video you can hear the answer to the question.
1. What did the Georgia government want from the Cherokee? (0:27)
2. What did the Cherokee government do in 1827 in response to threats by the US government and its citizens to take over Cherokee land? (0:37)
3. What were the Cherokee and white missionaries doing in response to Georgia's actions? (1:10)
4. What did the law that the Georgia legislature passed say about white persons in Cherokee land? (1:30)
5. Who was Samuel Worcester? (1:40) Why was he arrested and what was his punishment? (1:52)
6. Why did Samuel Worcester argue the law was unconstitutional? (2:26)
7. Why did the Supreme Court agree that the law was unconstitutional? (2:42-3:23)
8. How did Georgia and the United States respond to the Supreme Court's decision? (3:23-3:40)
9. What did the Treaty of New Echota exchange and how did it cause the Trail of Tears? (3:48-4:25)
10. If someone were to ask you why the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia was important what would you tell them? Either write a paragraph about what you would say or tell someone who knows nothing about this your answer. Make sure you restate the question.