pro-Choctaw walk away from the negotiations, the
officials persuade those who remain to sign the Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The first Removal treaty
negotiated by the U.S. government, it violates earlier
agreements in which the United States guaranteed
that the tribe would not be forced to leave its an-
cestral lands. The Dancing Rabbit Creek treaty also
stipulates that Choctaw who opt to claim individually
owned homesteads can remain in the Southeast. In
practice, however, the U.S. government will do little
to prevent settlers and state officials from taking over
these Indians’ plots.
1831The Supreme Court refuses to hear
Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia.
In Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, the Cherokee
bring suit against Georgia to stop the state from ap-
plying its laws to tribe members. The suit is prompted
by a series of abuses. In the most recent, Georgia exe-
cuted a Cherokee convicted of murder before his case
could be appealed (see entry for 1830).
The Cherokee’s case relies on the argument that
they are a foreign nation and that therefore, accord-
ing to the U.S. Constitution, the federal government
must protect them from Georgia’s attempt to exert au-
thority over them. However, John Marshall, the chief
justice of the Supreme Court, disagrees. He holds
that Indian tribes are “domestic dependent nations.”
Because he does not consider the Cherokee tribe a
sovereign foreign power, Marshall refuses to hear
their case. Redefining Indian tribes relationship with
the United States to that of “a ward to his guardian,”
Marshall’s decision will have enormous implications
for future federal Indian policy.
June
The Illinois militia destroys Black
Hawk’s village.
The followers of Sac leader Black Hawk refuse to
leave their village of Saukenuk near present-day
Rock Island, Illinois. Their stance defies the Treaty
of St. Louis (see entry for NOVEMBER 3, 1804), in
which some Sac and Fox leaders relinquished their
people’s claims to all lands east of the Mississippi
River. The governor of Illinois sends in the militia
to destroy the Indian village. Before escaping to the
west bank of the Mississippi, Black Hawk is com-
pelled to sign a pledge never to return to Saukenuk.
(See also entry for APRIL TO AUGUST 1832.)1832Worcester v. Georgia denies states the right
to regulate Indian affairs.
In Worcester v. Georgia, Samuel Worcester and sev-
eral other missionaries sue Georgia after they are
sentenced to four years of hard labor. Their crime
was violating a state statute that prohibits whites
from living on the Cherokee Reservation within
Georgia’s borders without the state’s permission.
They lost their case in state court but appeal the
decision to the Supreme Court. There the mission-
aries argue that Georgia does not have the authority
to regulate the reservation population.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court finds
for the missionaries. It holds that Georgia has no
right to pass laws concerning the Cherokee Reserva-
tion, because Indian affairs are the sole responsibility
of the federal government. The decision will serve
as the foundation for many future laws governing
Indians. However, it will have little effect on the
Cherokee’s efforts to block Georgia from applying
its laws to the tribe (see entry for 1831). Largely
because of President Andrew Jackson’s sympathy for
Georgia’s position, the Court’s decision will not be
enforced in the state.Ralph Waldo Emerson protests the
Cherokee’s removal.
In a letter to President Andrew Jackson, the emi-
nent poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks
out against Georgia’s efforts to remove the Chero-
kee from the state. He describes Cherokee removal
as “a crime... that confounds our understandings
by its magnitude” and warns that if the president