What is worcester v. georgia

The State v. Thompson and others. Indictment for residing in the Cherokee Nation without license. Verdict, Guilty. Elizur Butler, Samuel A.

Worcester and others. The defendants in both of the above cases shall be kept in close custody by the sheriff of this county until they can be transported to the penitentiary of this State, and the keeper thereof is hereby directed to receive them, and each of them, into his custody, and keep them, and each of them, at hard labour in said penitentiary, for and during the term of four years.

A writ of error was issued on the application of the plaintiff in error, on the 27th of October , which, with the following proceedings thereon, was returned to this court. Because in the record and proceedings, as also in the rendition of the judgment of a plea which is in the said superior court, for the county of Gwinnett, before you, or some of you, between the State of Georgia, plaintiff, and Samuel A.

Worcester, defendant, on an indictment, being the highest court of law in said State in which a decision could be had in said suit, a manifest error hath happened, to the great damage of the said Samuel A. Worcester, as by his complaint appears. We being willing that error, if any hath been, should be duly corrected, and full and speedy justice done to the parties aforesaid in this behalf, do command you, if judgment be therein given that then under your seal distinctly and openly, you send the record and proceedings aforesaid, with all things concerning the same, to the Supreme Court of the United States, together with this writ, so that you have the same at Washington on the second Monday of January next, in the said Supreme Court, to be then and there held; that the record and proceedings aforesaid being inspected, the said Supreme Court may cause further to be done therein, to correct that error, what of right, and according to the laws and custom of the United States, should be done.

Witness, the honourable John Marshall, chief justice of the said Supreme Court, the first Monday of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one. Chief Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court. The legislature of Georgia, on the 19th December , passed the following act: An act to add the territory lying within the chartered limits of Georgia, and now in the occupancy of the Cherokee Indians, to the counties of Carroll, De Kalb, Gwinnett, Hall, and Habersham, and to extend the laws of this State over the same, and to annul all laws and ordinances made by the Cherokee Nation of Indians, and to provide for the compensation of officers serving legal process in said territory, and to regulate the testimony of Indians, and to repeal the ninth section of the act of upon this subject.

In September , the grand jurors for the county of Gwinnett in the State of Georgia, presented to the superior court of the county the following indictment: Georgia, Gwinnett county: The grand jurors, sworn, chosen and selected for the county of Gwinnett, in the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, charge and accuse Elizur Butler, Samuel A.

To this indictment, the plaintiff in error pleaded specially, as follows: And the said Samuel A. On the same day the court pronounced sentence on the parties so convicted, as follows: The State v.

United States of America, The President of the United States to the honourable the judges of the Superior Court for the County of Gwinnett, in the State of Georgia, greeting: Because in the record and proceedings, as also in the rendition of the judgment of a plea which is in the said superior court, for the county of Gwinnett, before you, or some of you, between the State of Georgia, plaintiff, and Samuel A.

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Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Love words? Need even more definitions? Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms The same, but different. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Nov. The Court began by sympathizing with the Cherokees' plight, acknowledging that they had been persecuted and marginalized by America's European settlers, then asserted that Indian nations were both "foreign nations" and people within U.

In other words, the Cherokee, though sometimes viewed as an independent nation, were also dependent people on the nation that envelopes them. Thus, the Court asserted that "foreign nations," as used in the Constitution, could not include "Indian nations.

Meanwhile, in , Georgia passed another law requiring its citizens to obtain a state license before dwelling inside the Cherokee Nation.

A group of missionaries residing there, including Samuel Austin Worcester, refused to obtain such a license. The missionaries were known supporters of Cherokee resistance to Georgia's removal efforts. Worcester and a fellow missionary were indicted by a Georgia court, brought to trial, and convicted. Worcester appealed to the U. Supreme Court, claiming that the Georgia court lacked authority to convict them. On review of the case, the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia ruled that because the Cherokee Nation was a separate political entity that could not be regulated by the state, Georgia's license law was unconstitutional and Worcester's conviction should be overturned.

The Court first pointed to evidence proving that the Native American communities were conceived of as "separate nations" dating back to the time of early colonial America.