Compare And Contrast Marshall Vs Cherokee

Often history lessons debate the ruling between the United States Supreme Court and the Cherokee Nation. In 1831 Chief Justice John Marshall deemed the Cherokee Nation a “ward to its guardian”. Chief Justice Marshall pointed to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as evidence; separated "foreign nations" and "Indian tribes" because they did not consider the Indian nations as either foreign or independent. [1] Since the Cherokee were not a foreign state, he concluded, the Court had no original jurisdiction powers, and so it could not grant the injunction that the Cherokee desired. Many historians have denounced Marshall's opinion as inconsistent, weak, or merely protective of the Court's power. In Fletcher v. Peck, the case in which the

Georgia never replied to the allegations against the laws instituted by the state; instead, the state asserted that the Supreme Court had no power to oversee a state's business. Georgia lobbied Congress during arguments of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia to limit the powers that the Supreme Court had under Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789. In the Judiciary Act, Congress had allowed the Supreme Court to declare a state law unconstitutional and to grant such an injunction that the Cherokee sought.[3] Chief Justice Marshall had found in the Cherokee Nations favor that Georgia had no jurisdiction over the Cherokees and no claim to their lands. Even after the findings by the Chief Justice Marshall, Georgia simply ignored the ruling, and President Jackson refused to enforce it. Jackson was angry and personally insulted by the Marshall ruling, stating, "Mr. Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!"[4] If the Supreme Court would have ruled in favor of Cherokee and other Indian nations were indeed independent; this could have then allowed European nations, to move into American lands and form alliances with the Indians.

However, President Jackson and his government more than often ignored the letter of the law and forced Native Americans to vacate lands they had lived on for several generations. In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw became the first nation to be expelled from its land completely. They made the journey to Indian Territory on foot, without any food or supplies, nor help from the government. Thousands of Indians died along the way. By 1838, an estimated 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian Territory and 7,000 soldiers were sent to expedite the removal process. The army marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian territory and during this long journey several Cherokee died due to such diseases as: Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. It was estimated that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a