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Native American Wars on the Western Frontier, 1866-1890

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This painting of the Trail of Tears depicts the grueling journey of the Cherokee through five states in 1838–39. At least one-third of the Indians forced to march to Indian Territory did not survive the journey.

Worcester, who was a missionary to the Cherokees in Georgia, went to court over Georgia’s attempt to take Indian lands. When Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were a sovereign nation in the case Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Cherokees thought they had won, and that their previous treaty would be upheld. However, Georgia state officials ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling, and so did President Andrew Jackson. The U.S. government soon began forcibly removing Native Americans. A few hundred Cherokees out of 17,000 signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. Even though almost all of the other Cherokees opposed the treaty, the U.S. government used these signatures to justify forced removal of the tribe. About 3,000 Cherokees were sent on boats to Indian Territory in the West. During the winter of 1838–39, another 14,000 Native Americans were forced to march through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. This event is known as the "Trail of Tears," because thou- sands of Native Americans died from hunger and illness.