Andrew Jackson's Controversial Rule-Breaking: Lawlessness Or Leadership?

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, is known for his controversial policies and actions towards Native Americans, particularly the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to the displacement of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. Jackson's administration was decidedly anti-Indian, and he is often accused of breaking the law in his pursuit of Native American removal. One notable example is his refusal to abide by the Supreme Court's decision in Worcester v. Georgia, where the Court invalidated Georgia laws that encroached on Cherokee lands, asserting that Native Americans were under federal protection and beyond the reach of state law. Despite the Court's ruling, Jackson refused to use federal power to hold Georgia accountable, and his administration continued to pursue anti-Indian policies. This led to the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, including the infamous Trail of Tears, where thousands of Cherokees perished.

Andrew Jackson's refusal to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia

The context of the case is essential to understanding Jackson's refusal to comply with the ruling. During this period, European-American settlers were increasingly encroaching on Cherokee territory, even after the Cherokee had ceded some land to the US government. Samuel Austin Worcester, a missionary to the Cherokee, played a crucial role in challenging Georgia's law. Worcester, along with other missionaries, protested an 1830 Georgia law prohibiting white men from living on Native American land without a state license. He argued that obeying this law would be tantamount to surrendering the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation over their own territory. Worcester and eleven other signatories to the protest were arrested and convicted, with nine accepting pardons and two, Worcester and Elizur Butler, refusing.

The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of Worcester and held that Georgia's statute was invalid. Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion laid out the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States as one of nations, with the federal government having the sole right to negotiate with Indian Nations. However, President Andrew Jackson is famously quoted as saying, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" indicating his refusal to abide by the Court's ruling.

While the quote is believed to be apocryphal, both Jackson and Georgia ignored the Supreme Court's decision. Jackson's political enemies claimed that he would refuse to enforce the ruling, and he wrote in a letter to John Coffee that the decision "has fell still born, and they find that they cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate." Despite the Court's ruling, Worcester and Butler remained imprisoned, and Georgia's governor, Wilson Lumpkin, continued to resist, declaring that the Supreme Court had "attempted to overthrow the essential jurisdiction of the State, in criminal cases."

The refusal to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia highlights the tensions between the federal government and states' rights during this period, as well as the complex dynamics surrounding Native American sovereignty and the westward expansion of European-American settlers.

Jackson's Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, passed on May 28, 1830, authorised the president to negotiate the removal of Native Americans from their tribal homelands east of the Mississippi River and resettle them in the west. Jackson had been a key figure in the Indian removal campaign even before he became president, having negotiated nine of the eleven major treaties that removed Native Americans from their land.

The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, especially in Georgia, which was involved in a dispute with the Cherokee Nation. Jackson hoped that the removal of Native Americans would resolve this crisis. The Act was also supported by Jackson's Democratic Party, southern and white settlers, and several state governments. However, it was opposed by Indigenous tribes, the Whig Party, Christian missionaries, and some groups within white American society.

The Act established a process whereby the president could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes that agreed to give up their homelands. As incentives, the law allowed the Native Americans financial and material assistance to travel to their new locations and start new lives, and guaranteed that they would live on their new property under the protection of the United States government forever.

By the end of Jackson's presidency, he had signed into law almost 70 removal treaties, resulting in the relocation of nearly 50,000 eastern Native Americans to Indian Territory (what later became eastern Oklahoma). This opened up 25 million acres of land to white settlement and, since the bulk of the land was in the American South, to the expansion of slavery.

The Indian Removal Act and the subsequent removals have been characterised by 21st-century scholars as an early example of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing, genocide, or settler colonialism. The Trail of Tears, the forced resettlement of the Cherokee Nation, is one of the most well-known consequences of the Act. During the fall and winter of 1838-39, the Cherokees were forcibly moved from their homes to Indian Territory—some having to walk as many as 1,000 miles over a four-month period. Approximately 4,000 of 16,000 Cherokees died along the way.

Jackson's defiance of the Supreme Court's mandate barring Georgia from intruding on Cherokee lands

Andrew Jackson's defiance of the Supreme Court's mandate barring Georgia from intruding on Cherokee lands is a notable example of the tensions between states' rights and federal authority in the United States during the early 19th century. The case in question, Worcester v. Georgia (1832), centred on the state of Georgia's attempts to exert jurisdiction over the Cherokee Nation and seize their lands.

In the 1820s and 1830s, Georgia pursued a relentless campaign to remove the Cherokees from their ancestral homeland, which encompassed territory within the borders of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. In response, the Cherokees established a constitutional government, declaring themselves a sovereign nation that could not be removed without their consent. Angered by this assertion, Georgia's legislature passed laws extending its jurisdiction over the Cherokees, annexing their lands, and facilitating their seizure and distribution to Georgia's white citizens.

The Cherokees, led by their principal chief, John Ross, challenged the constitutionality of Georgia's laws in the US Supreme Court. The case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), resulted in a ruling that the Court lacked jurisdiction as the Cherokees constituted a "domestic, dependent nation" under the guardianship of the United States. However, this decision did not deter Georgia from continuing its campaign of encroachment on Cherokee lands.

A pivotal figure in the resistance to Georgia's actions was Samuel Worcester, a minister and missionary who resided in the Cherokee capital of New Echota. Worcester advised the Cherokees of their legal rights and taught them the Bible. In retaliation, Georgia enacted licensing laws regulating the movement of white people to and from Cherokee lands. Worcester and several other missionaries were imprisoned for violating these laws.

This led to another legal challenge in the US Supreme Court, Worcester v. Georgia. In this case, the Court reversed its earlier decision, holding that Indian nations, including the Cherokee, were sovereign nations with inherent natural rights to their land. The Court asserted that Georgia's laws directly conflicted with the US Constitution and existing treaties, which granted the federal government exclusive power to negotiate treaties with foreign nations.

Despite this ruling, President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the Supreme Court's decision. He is famously quoted as saying, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it", referring to Chief Justice John Marshall. Jackson's defiance stemmed from his belief in states' rights and his own anti-Native American policies. He was unwilling to deviate from his ideology or alienate Georgia, a state that shared his core beliefs.

Jackson's inaction towards the Supreme Court's ruling had profound implications for the Cherokee Nation. Without federal enforcement, the opinion held little weight, and Georgia continued its encroachment on Cherokee lands. In 1835, a dissident faction of Cherokees, pressured by the state, signed the Treaty of New Echota, agreeing to their removal. This ultimately led to the Trail of Tears in 1838, where the US Army forcibly relocated over 15,000 Native Americans from Georgia to Oklahoma, with more than 4,000 losing their lives during the journey.

Jackson's refusal to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling in Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia

Andrew Jackson's refusal to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) was based on his belief that the Native Americans were not a "foreign state" and therefore could not sue in federal court.

The Cherokee Nation had filed a motion for an injunction to prevent the execution of certain acts of the Legislature of the State of Georgia in their territory. They claimed to be proceeding in the Supreme Court as a foreign state against the State of Georgia under the provision of the US Constitution, which gives the Court jurisdiction in controversies in which a state of the US or the citizens thereof, and a foreign state, citizens, or subjects thereof are parties.

The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled that the Cherokee Nation was a "domestic dependent nation" and not a foreign state in the sense used in the Constitution. The Court held that the Cherokee Nation was a "distinct community occupying its own territory...in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves, or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress."

However, Andrew Jackson, who had initially opposed Marshall's election to the presidency, refused to enforce the Court's decision. He is famously quoted as saying, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." Georgia and Jackson simply ignored the ruling, and the Cherokee Nation was ultimately forced off their land in 1838. This event became known as the Trail of Tears, during which some 15,000 Cherokee were driven from their land and approximately 4,000 died on the gruelling journey westward.

Jackson's signing of the Treaty of New Echota

Andrew Jackson's signing of the Treaty of New Echota was a highly controversial act during his presidency. The treaty was signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, and resulted in the displacement of the Cherokee Nation and the tragic Trail of Tears.

The Treaty of New Echota was signed by officials of the US government and a minority faction of the Cherokee political group known as the Treaty Party. The treaty established terms for the Cherokee Nation to cede their territory in the southeast and move west to the Indian Territory. This cession included all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River. In exchange, the Cherokee would receive $5 million from the US government (to be distributed per capita to all members of the tribe), an additional $500,000 for educational funds, title in perpetuity to land in the Indian Territory equal to that given up, and full compensation for all property left behind.

However, it is important to note that this treaty was highly contested. The Principal Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee Nation opposed removal and regarded the treaty as unauthorized and fraudulent. The Cherokee National Council did not approve the treaty, and Chief Ross did not sign it. Despite this, the treaty was amended and ratified in March 1836 and became the legal basis for the forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation, known as the Trail of Tears. During this tragic event, an estimated 4,000 Cherokee people lost their lives.

The historical perception of Jackson and his role in Indian removal has been divisive. Some view him as a champion of White settlement and progress, but this progress came at the expense of Native American rights and lives. The signing of the Treaty of New Echota is, therefore, considered a controversial act in Jackson's presidency.

Frequently asked questions