Worcester v. Georgia: The Case That Cemented Native American Sovereignty But Failed to Save the Cherokee

Supreme Court Cases Series. Episode #3 of 4. In 1830, afraid that white missionaries were aiding the Cherokee in their effort to resist giving up their lands, the Georgia state government made it illegal for white people to live within Cherokee Nation  territory without a license from the government.  Samuel Austin Worcester - raised in Vermont and trained as a Congregationalist minister - had lived for years with the Cherokee and became close with the Cherokee leadership. In March 1831, the Georgia Guard arrested Worcester and fellow missionaries under the new residency law. Most of the arrested missionaries agreed to leave the state in exchange for having their charges dropped - but not Samuel Worcester. With the Cherokee leadership, Worcester instead decided to use the charges against him as an opportunity to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The resulting case, Worcester v. Georgia, was a critical win for the Cherokee Nation, and to this day, remains one of the most important cases in establishing our modern understanding of tribal sovereignty. And yet, despite the legal win, the actual aftermath of the case was the theft of Cherokee land and the forcible removal of the Cherokee from Georgia, resulting in the death of thousands of people.

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