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1 results

  • 6 - Indian Removal and the Cherokee Cases

  • from Part I - From Sovereigns to Wards
  • Adam Crepelle, Loyola University, Chicago
  • Book:
    Becoming Nations Again
    Published online:
    17 April 2025
    Print publication:
    24 April 2025, pp 79-97
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  • Summary

    Desire for tribal land led President Thomas Jefferson to propose relocating tribes. Apart from yearning for tribal lands, Americans believed Indians were too inherently savage to coexist with whites. However, some tribes soundly disproved this notion. The Cherokee Nation was an exemplar of cultural evolution. The Cherokee Nation had a European-style agricultural economy by the early 1800s and a literacy rate triple that of their white neighbors. The Cherokee Nation also adopted a western-style constitution in 1827. This assertion of Cherokee sovereignty infuriated Georgia. Following Andrew Jackson’s election, Georgia extended its laws over the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, the United States enacted the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act allowed the president to strong arm tribes into relocating west of the Mississippi. Against this backdrop, the Cherokee Nation contested Georgia’s attempt to annex Cherokee land in the United States Supreme Court. The Cherokee Nation ultimately prevailed in the Supreme Court; however, President Jackson refused to enforce it, leading to the Trail of Tears.