The Native nations of the Southeast lived on land that cotton planters and settlers wanted. The Cherokee had adapted in ways that settlers said they admired: a written language (Sequoyah's syllabary, 1821), a newspaper, a written constitution (1827) and a capital at New Echota, in Georgia. None of that saved their land. In Jackson's presidency the United States forced them out.
Key idea
The Indian Removal Act (May 28, 1830) let the President trade land west of the Mississippi for Native land in the East. The Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Seminole and Cherokee nations were forced west to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). In Worcester v. Georgia (1832) the Supreme Court ruled for the Cherokee, but the ruling was not enforced. In 1838 and 1839 about 16,000 Cherokee were forced out on the Trail of Tears; thousands died.
Why it works
Georgia passed laws claiming authority over the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee went to court instead of to war. In Worcester, Chief Justice Marshall held that the Cherokee Nation was a distinct community where Georgia's laws had no force: its relations were with the federal government, by treaty. But Georgia ignored the ruling (Worcester stayed in prison until the governor pardoned him in January 1833), and the President was not asked to do anything. Jackson did not act against Georgia, and he pressed for removal. In 1835 a small group of Cherokee, without the consent of the nation's government, signed the Treaty of New Echota, and the Senate approved it.
Worked example: Reading the numbers with care
Why do books give different numbers for the deaths on the Trail of Tears?
- Records were kept by the army and by Cherokee leaders, and both are incomplete.
- Many died not only on the march but in the stockades where people were held before it, and soon after arrival.
- A commonly cited estimate is about 4,000 Cherokee deaths; some historians, counting the whole period of removal, put it higher.
- So a careful writer says "thousands died" or gives an estimate with its source.
Answer: The records are incomplete and counts cover different stages, so estimates differ; about 4,000 is the most common one.
Common mistake
The Supreme Court did not approve removal. In Worcester v. Georgia it ruled for the Cherokee, holding that Georgia's law did not apply in their nation; the ruling was simply not enforced. A famous line, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it," is usually credited to Jackson, but there is no record that he said it, and historians treat it as legend. Check the outcome: the Court's winner was the Cherokee; the President's policy won on the ground.