Original manuscript of Cherokee nation denial to foreign status:
In the landmark case, The Cherokee Nation v. The State of Georgia, the United States Supreme Court ruled in 1831 that the Cherokee Indian Nation was not a foreign nation and therefore ruled that the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction. The result was that the Cherokee Nation's land cessions were allowed to stand, and they were denied the right to sue in federal court to prevent their removal from tribal lands. Associate Justice Smith Thompson wrote a dissenting opinion upholding the claims of the Cherokee Nation. This manuscript is Justice Thompson's retained copy of his dissenting opinion.
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Picture Source: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures
This historical event is also known as the Cherokees and the Choctaw Nation Massacre. It began historically in the 1800s. After a new wave of migration as consequence of Gold discovered in Georgia, the resulting gold fever, and collective greed; factors that enticed new settlers to end up pushing the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw nations, among others, to move out of their lands and consequently lose their homes and properties.
In 1830 President Andrew Jackson ungratefully authorized the Indian Nations Removal defying the initial decision of the Supreme Court which reaffirmed the Natives' sovereignty over their own homelands but not too long after Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Indian Nation was not a foreign nation and therefore Supreme Court did not have any jurisdiction over this matter.
Ironically, Cherokees had saved President Jackson's life years before at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
Ironically, Cherokees had saved President Jackson's life years before at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
More than 4,000 Native Americans died from hunger, exposure, disease, and starvation along this torturing and cruel journey to their uncertain destinations. This became an eternal memory of suffering and hardship especially for Cherokees and other removed tribes.
More than 46,000 Native Americans were removed from these southeastern states homelands thereby opening 25 million acres for more and new settlement.The Forceful Removal Route:
Map Source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Trail_of_tears_map_NPS.jpg source and rights)
--Letter from Aitooweyah to John Ross, Principal Chief:
"We, the great mass of the people think only of the love we have to our land for...we do love the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go...to let it go it will be like throwing away...[our] mother that gave...[us] birth."
By Richard White, Historian
(taken from the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, US Dept. of Interior, National Park Service)
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