Worcester v. Georgia
From Free net encyclopedia
| Worcester v. Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:Seal of the United States Supreme Court.png Supreme Court of the United States | ||||||||
| Decided March 3, 1832 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Holding | ||||||||
| States were not permitted to redraw the boundaries of Indian lands or forbid residence in those territories, because the Constitution granted sole authority to Congress to regulate relations with sovereign Indian tribes. Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia reversed and remanded. | ||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Case opinions | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Laws applied | ||||||||
| U.S. Const. art. I |
Worcester v. Georgia Template:Ussc, was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Cherokee Native Americans were entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments.
Contents |
The case
Georgia law required all whites living in Cherokee Indian Territory to obtain a state license. Two missionaries refused to obey the state law, were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to four years of hard labor for violating the state licensing law. They appealed their case to the Supreme Court of the United States arguing that the laws they had been convicted under were unconstitutional because states have no power or authority to pass laws concerning sovereign Indian Nations.
Worcester is considered one of the most influential decisions in the area of law applicable to American Indians. The Marshall court had previously ruled in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia that Indian tribes in the United States did not have the status of foreign nations (famously describing them as "domestic dependent nations"); here the court ruled that the Cherokee nation was a "distinct community" with self-government, "in which the laws of Georgia can have no force". This ruling established the doctrine that the national government of the United States—and not individual states—had authority in Indian affairs.
In reaction to this decision, President Andrew Jackson has often been quoted as defying the Supreme Court with the words: "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!". Jackson never actually said this; in fact, because of a legal loophole, he had no grounds for becoming involved unless the Georgia courts formally defied the Supreme Court. That did not happen, since Georgia simply ignored the ruling. What Jackson actually said was that "the decision of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that they cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate." Jackson's opponents criticized him for failing to act against Georgia, but even if he had wanted to intervene—and he did not—it is questionable whether he had any legal authority to do so (Prucha, p. 212).
See also
- Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Template:Ussc
- William Wirt, Attorney General in the Monroe and Adams administrations
- Trail of Tears
References
- Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, volume I. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
- Jean Edward Smith. John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1996.
- Burke, "The Cherokee Cases: A Study in Law, Politics, and Morality," 21 Stan.L.Rev. 500 (1969).
Supreme Court Case 30.1 "http://supreme.justia.com/us/30/1/case.html"