CHEROKEE NATION V.S
GEORGIA
BY: STUDENTS
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE
• 3rd article 2nd section of the constitution.
• Closes an enumeration of the cases in which it is
extended, but it also gives the supreme court
original jurisdiction in all cases in which a state will
be a party.
• the party defendant may sued in this court.
• The constitutional issues that arise here are; may the
plaintiff sue in it? Is the Cherokee nation a foreign
state in the sense in which the term is used in the
constitution?
CASE SPECIFICS
• The Cherokee nation wants injunction to restrain the
state of Georgia of execution of certain laws.
• Georgia is trying to annihilate the Cherokee nation
and use their land for Georgia.
UPHOLDING
• They have been uniformly treated as a state from
the settlement of our country.
• The numerous treaties made with them by the
United States recognize them as a people capable
of maintaining the relations of peace and war, of
being responsible in their political character for any
violation of their engagements, or for any
aggression committed on the citizens of the United
States by any individual of their community.
• The acts of our government plainly recognize the
Cherokee Nation as a state
ARGUMENTS FOR OVERTURNING
• Indian tribes are domestic dependent nations not
foreign nations.
RULING
• Marshall stated that tribes such as the Cherokee are
“domestic dependent nations,” not foreign nations.
• They refused to hear the case they left the
Cherokee nation at the mercy of the state of
Georgia.
• In 1838; the Cherokee nations made the march
from Georgia all the way to Oklahoma.
• 4000 of the Cherokee Indians died on the march
THE IMPACT
• Settlers discovered gold in Cherokee country in
1828, further escalating the greed for land and
wealth.
• The Cherokee's forced removal dramatizes the fate
of Indian peoples in the face of U.S. expansion. The
tide of U.S. expansion eventually overwhelmed
even those tribes with peaceful policies and firmly
established economies.
SUPREME COURTS DECISION
• U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation
was sovereign.
• According to the decision rendered by Justice John
Marshall, this meant that Georgia had no rights to
enforce state laws in its territory.
• In addition, it made the Indian Removal Act invalid,
illegal, unconstitutional and against treaties
previously made by the United States.
DISSENTING OPINION
• What happened to the Cherokee nation was
necessary for the expansion of the U.S.
• My personal opinion is it could’ve been handled a
little differently because moving them out of their
home forcefully for no fault of there own was very
wrong.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., Richard Clay Hanes, and Rebecca
Valentine. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker. Vol. 5: Business and
Government Law. 2nd ed. Detroit: UXL, 2011. p1225-1230.
COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning
• "Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia." Cherokee Nation v.
State of Georgia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
• Ed. Sonia G. Benson, Nancy Matuszak, and Meghan Appel
O'Meara. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2001. p198-213. COPYRIGHT
2000-2002 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale, Cengage Learning