3 March 1832
Worcester v. Georgia rejects Georgia’s jurisdiction in Cherokee territory
Georgia; Cherokee Nation
The Supreme Court reversed Samuel Worcester’s conviction under Georgia’s licensing law. Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion recognized the Cherokee Nation as a distinct political community and held that Georgia’s asserted jurisdiction conflicted with federal treaties and law.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
This is the 1832 Worcester decision, not the 1831 Cherokee Nation jurisdictional ruling. The holding did not itself prevent the subsequent dispossession and removal. Claims about Jackson’s precise response and the missionaries’ later release require separate evidence; no apocryphal quotation is reproduced.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 7, pp. 140–141; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832), opinion at pp. 560–563; decision date and court text via Justia ↗