Plaintiff
Cherokee Indian Nation
Defendant
State of Georgia
Plaintiff's Claim
That under the Supreme Court's power to resolve disputes between states and foreign nations, the Court could forbid Georgia from unlawfully attempting tomove the Cherokees from their lands.
Chief Lawyer for Plaintiff
William Wirt
Chief Defense Lawyer
None
Justices for the Court
Henry Baldwin, William Johnson, John Marshall (writing for the Court), John McLean
Justices Dissenting
Smith Thompson, Joseph Story (Gabriel Duvall did not participate)
Place
Washington, D.C.
Date of Decision
5 March 1831
Decision
That the Court had no power to hear the dispute, because Indian tribes are not foreign nations.
Significance
By refusing to help the Cherokees, the Court left the Indians at the mercy ofland-hungry settlers. The Cherokees ultimately were forced to move to Oklahoma along the famous "Trail of Tears."
The Cherokee Indians originally inhabited much of America's southeastern seaboard. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European settlers pushed the Cherokees from many of their lands. Unlike most Indians, however, the Cherokees were able to resist white encroachment by adapting to white ways. Afterthe American Revolution, the Cherokees copied white farming methods and other aspects of the white economy. The Cherokees sent some of their children toAmerican schools, and permitted mixed marriages. Further, they signed a series of treaties with the federal government that seemed to protect what remained of their lands.
The Cherokee presence was particularly strong in Georgia, where they prospered under the new ways. Cherokee plantations even had slaves. However, in 1828prospectors discovered gold in Cherokee territory. Georgia wanted to give theland to whites, and enacted laws to force the Cherokees to leave. The Cherokees fought back, hiring white lawyers to represent them.
The Cherokees' chief lawyer was William Wirt. He went directly to the SupremeCourt and asked for an injunction forbidding Georgia from removing the Cherokees. Because Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the Courtoriginal jurisdiction in cases to which a state is a party, Wirt did not have to go through the Georgia state courts and could not go through the lower federal courts. Unfortunately, Article III, Section 2 generally limits the Court's jurisdiction to cases involving American citizens, and Indians were notyet recognized as citizens. The only arguable basis for jurisdiction was theCourt's power to hear disputes "between a State, or the Citizens thereof, andforeign States, Citizens or Subjects."
Therefore, Wirt had to convince the Court that the Cherokees were a foreign nation, or the Court would refuse to act. Georgia was an ardent supporter of states' rights, and since the state denied that the federal courts had jurisdiction, Georgia refused to send anyone to represent the state.
Wirt reminded the Court that the Cherokees had uncontestable rights to the lands in Georgia:
Next, Wirt begged the Court to prevent what was about to happen to the Cherokees:
That same day, the Supreme Court denied Wirt's petition, holding that the Cherokees and other Indian tribes were only "domestic dependent nations," not foreign nations, and thus the Court had no authority to help them. A year later, in the 1832 case of Worcester v. Georgia, the Court freed some missionaries who were sympathetic to the Cherokee cause and had been arrested by Georgia authorities, but only because the missionaries were white citizens. Powerless to resist, the Cherokees were stripped of all their lands by 1838. Inthat year, over 7,000 soldiers forced the Cherokees to leave what was left of their territory for relocation in Oklahoma. Over 4,000 Cherokees died during the journey of thousands of miles to the west, which became known as the Trail of Tears.
Related Cases
The "Trail of Tears"
Of the many injustices visited by the United States on Indian tribes, the removal of the Cherokee nation from their Georgia homeland to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838-39 was one of the most inexcusable. Over the course of their journey, on a route called the "Trail of Tears," one-quarter of the Cherokee people died.
The Cherokee had been almost unique among Indians in their establishment of aEuropean-style government. Hoping in vain to preserve their lands in northwest Georgia against the spread of white settlement, in the early 1800s they adopted many of the features that they hoped would qualify them as "civilized"in the eyes of the federal government. Not only did they become the only Native American group with a written language, thanks to the efforts of the linguist Sequoyah, they also established a parliamentary and constitutional form of government with a capital at New Echota. In addition, they took up cattle-raising and farming, a departure from the traditional Native American hunter-gatherer economy.
But these efforts proved futile. In 1828, Georgia declared void all Cherokeelaws, and claimed their lands for the state.
Sources
Garraty, John A. A Short History of the American Nation. New York: Harper, 1981.
Cherokee Indian Nation
Defendant
State of Georgia
Plaintiff's Claim
That under the Supreme Court's power to resolve disputes between states and foreign nations, the Court could forbid Georgia from unlawfully attempting tomove the Cherokees from their lands.
Chief Lawyer for Plaintiff
William Wirt
Chief Defense Lawyer
None
Justices for the Court
Henry Baldwin, William Johnson, John Marshall (writing for the Court), John McLean
Justices Dissenting
Smith Thompson, Joseph Story (Gabriel Duvall did not participate)
Place
Washington, D.C.
Date of Decision
5 March 1831
Decision
That the Court had no power to hear the dispute, because Indian tribes are not foreign nations.
Significance
By refusing to help the Cherokees, the Court left the Indians at the mercy ofland-hungry settlers. The Cherokees ultimately were forced to move to Oklahoma along the famous "Trail of Tears."
The Cherokee Indians originally inhabited much of America's southeastern seaboard. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European settlers pushed the Cherokees from many of their lands. Unlike most Indians, however, the Cherokees were able to resist white encroachment by adapting to white ways. Afterthe American Revolution, the Cherokees copied white farming methods and other aspects of the white economy. The Cherokees sent some of their children toAmerican schools, and permitted mixed marriages. Further, they signed a series of treaties with the federal government that seemed to protect what remained of their lands.
The Cherokee presence was particularly strong in Georgia, where they prospered under the new ways. Cherokee plantations even had slaves. However, in 1828prospectors discovered gold in Cherokee territory. Georgia wanted to give theland to whites, and enacted laws to force the Cherokees to leave. The Cherokees fought back, hiring white lawyers to represent them.
The Cherokees' chief lawyer was William Wirt. He went directly to the SupremeCourt and asked for an injunction forbidding Georgia from removing the Cherokees. Because Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the Courtoriginal jurisdiction in cases to which a state is a party, Wirt did not have to go through the Georgia state courts and could not go through the lower federal courts. Unfortunately, Article III, Section 2 generally limits the Court's jurisdiction to cases involving American citizens, and Indians were notyet recognized as citizens. The only arguable basis for jurisdiction was theCourt's power to hear disputes "between a State, or the Citizens thereof, andforeign States, Citizens or Subjects."
Therefore, Wirt had to convince the Court that the Cherokees were a foreign nation, or the Court would refuse to act. Georgia was an ardent supporter of states' rights, and since the state denied that the federal courts had jurisdiction, Georgia refused to send anyone to represent the state.
Wirt reminded the Court that the Cherokees had uncontestable rights to the lands in Georgia:
The boundaries were fixed by treaty, and what waswithin them was acknowledged to be the land of the Cherokees. This was the scope of all the treaties.
Next, Wirt begged the Court to prevent what was about to happen to the Cherokees:
The legislation of Georgia proposes to annihilate them, as its very end and aim . . . If those laws be fully executed, there will be no Cherokee boundary, no Cherokee nation, no Cherokee lands, no Cherokee treaties. . . They will all be swept out of existence together, leaving nothing butthe monuments in our history of the enormous injustice that has been practised towards a friendly nation.
That same day, the Supreme Court denied Wirt's petition, holding that the Cherokees and other Indian tribes were only "domestic dependent nations," not foreign nations, and thus the Court had no authority to help them. A year later, in the 1832 case of Worcester v. Georgia, the Court freed some missionaries who were sympathetic to the Cherokee cause and had been arrested by Georgia authorities, but only because the missionaries were white citizens. Powerless to resist, the Cherokees were stripped of all their lands by 1838. Inthat year, over 7,000 soldiers forced the Cherokees to leave what was left of their territory for relocation in Oklahoma. Over 4,000 Cherokees died during the journey of thousands of miles to the west, which became known as the Trail of Tears.
Related Cases
- Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. 87 (1810).
- Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 523 (1823).
- Worcester v. Georgia, 6 U.S. 515 (1832).
The "Trail of Tears"
Of the many injustices visited by the United States on Indian tribes, the removal of the Cherokee nation from their Georgia homeland to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838-39 was one of the most inexcusable. Over the course of their journey, on a route called the "Trail of Tears," one-quarter of the Cherokee people died.
The Cherokee had been almost unique among Indians in their establishment of aEuropean-style government. Hoping in vain to preserve their lands in northwest Georgia against the spread of white settlement, in the early 1800s they adopted many of the features that they hoped would qualify them as "civilized"in the eyes of the federal government. Not only did they become the only Native American group with a written language, thanks to the efforts of the linguist Sequoyah, they also established a parliamentary and constitutional form of government with a capital at New Echota. In addition, they took up cattle-raising and farming, a departure from the traditional Native American hunter-gatherer economy.
But these efforts proved futile. In 1828, Georgia declared void all Cherokeelaws, and claimed their lands for the state.
Sources
Garraty, John A. A Short History of the American Nation. New York: Harper, 1981.
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