When The Supreme Court Tried to Prevent Indian Removal | Worcester v. Georgia

I wrote a new book all about the Supreme Court. Order your copy hereor visit

Mr. Beat's band

Mr. Beat on Twitter

In episode 30 of Supreme Court Briefs, the Supreme Court makes an important ruling, and the state of Georgia and Andrew Jackson completely ignore it.

Check out cool primary sources here:

Other sources used:

Sound credits:

Mike Koenig

Music by Isaac Sander, Sam Sigourney, and Matt Beat.

Georgia

The 1820s

The Cherokee Nation, which held territory within Georgia’s borders, as well as in North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee, is threatened by the increasing amount of Americans who were trespassing and wanting to straight up take over their land. Georgia governor George Gilmer, as well as most of the Georgia legislature, made it very clear they wanted the Cherokee out of the state.

In 1827, the Cherokee Nation formally established a constitutional government and declared themselves sovereign, meaning American laws didn’t apply to them. This, of course, angered governor Gilmer and the legislature, and they annexed all Cherokee land in the state, dismantled the Cherokee government, and redistributed much of their land to white citizens.

Not only that, but three years later Congress passed and President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the President the power to negotiate treaties to remove Native Americans from their lands.

While all of this was going on, white missionaries were working with the Cherokee Nation to help them defend their sovereignty and continue to resist the Georgia laws that was kicking them off their own land. The Georgia legislature didn’t like this so much, so they passed a law that specifically banned “white persons” from living with the Cherokee without special permission from the state.

But several of these missionaries were rebels, you could say- they refused to leave. Two of them who refused to leave were Elizur Butler, a doctor from Connecticut, and Samuel Worcester,a minister from Vermont. Local authorities arrested Butler and Worcester for “residing within the limits of the Cherokee nation without a license” and “without having taken the oath to support and defend the constitution and laws of the state of Georgia.” They were convicted and sentenced to hard labor for 4 years as punishment.

Worcester and Butler appealed the decision with the help of lawyers paid for by the Cherokee Nation, and their case ended up going to the Supreme Court. The Court heard arguments in February 1832. Worcester and Butler’s main argument was that the government of Georgia, by making laws that allowed it to force the Cherokee Nation to do whatever it said, was unconstitutional because only Congress could make treaties and deals with Indian tribes.

On March 3, 1832, the Supreme Court announced it had sided with Worcester and Butler, voting 5-1 in their favor. Chief Justice John Marshall, aka “Lil’ John,” delivered the opinion. He argued the Georgia law was unconstitutional and got in the way of the federal government's authority. He said, "The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community occupying its own territory in which the laws of Georgia can have no force. The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation, is, by our constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States." In other words, he recognized the Cherokee as an independent nation. Georgia couldn’t pass laws controlling Spain or France, so why could they pass laws controlling the Cherokee?

So what did Georgia do in response to this decision? They ignored it. And Worcester and Butler stayed imprisoned. And President Andrew Jackson didn’t force Georgia to follow the Supreme Court decision, and instead said the Cherokee Nation better get out of Georgia or fall in line with their laws. Eventually Worcester and Butler were freed from prison only after they promised to stop helping the Cherokee resist the Georgia laws. In 1835, a faction of Cherokees broke away and secretly signed the Treaty of New Echota, which gave up Cherokee lands in Georgia in exchange for money. This group claimed to be representing all of the Cherokee, but they were not. In 1838, the U.S. Army forced almost all remaining Cherokees off of their lands in Georgia and marched them to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.