Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

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Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 1 (1831), was a United States Supreme Court decision.

Contents

Background

Indian removal was a major national issue in 1830, the year of the passage of the Indian Removal Act which enabled treaties to be negotiated to move American Indian tribes from their native lands.

In 1830, Georgia passed a law which prohibited whites from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831 without a license from the state. This law was written to justify removing white missionaries who were helping the Indians resist removal. Indian removal opponent Jeremiah Evarts urged the Cherokee nation to take their case to the Supreme Court.

The bench

Opinion

Concurring opinions

  1. Written by: Justice Johnson
  2. Written by: Justice Baldwin

Dissenting

The case

In 1830, the Cherokee nation asked for an injunction, claiming that Georgia's state legislature had created laws which, "go directly to annihilate the Cherokees as a political society". The injunction was denied, on the grounds that the Cherokee people, not being a state, and claiming to be independent of the United States, were a domestic dependent nation, over which the Supreme Court had no original jurisdiction.

However the 1832 Supreme Court decision Worcester v. Georgia later ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands.

See also

External links


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