Samuel Worcester is pictured above. A missionary, he
befriended the Cherokee nation and helped them translate their letters into “talking
leaves.” Worcester felt passionately that the Cherokee were being wronged by
settlers who grabbed their lands and forced them into one-sided treaties.
When Georgia seized Cherokee lands, Worcester contrived to
set up a court battle. Georgia law made it illegal for a white man to be on
Indian land. After he was arrested, his case went before the Supreme Court.
The court ruled for the missionary in Worcester v. Georgia
(1832), holding that Georgia's law was unconstitutional. The ruling stated that
only the federal government had constitutional authority to regulate relations
with Indians. This meant Georgia’s conviction of Worcester was unlawful.
President Andrew Jackson—who, like Georgia—wanted to move the
Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi River, was put in position to enforce
the Court’s ruling. There is disagreement among historians; but some accounts
indicate that Jackson said, “(Supreme Court Chief Justice) John Marshall made
his decision, now let him enforce it."
This much is clear: President
Jackson could have used federal troops to enforce the Supreme Court order to
free Worcester. Worcester remained in jail after winning before the Supreme
Court. Jackson used the military, however, to march out the Cherokee in 1838 in
a forced migration known as the Trail of Tears.
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