In the 1820s, the Cherokee nation was carving out a permanent, sovereign home within the United States. Using Sequoyah’s Cherokee syllabary, the tribe could boast almost total literacy. Written laws led to the formation of a Cherokee Supreme Court. New Echota, near present day Calhoun, was established as the authorized capital of the Cherokee nation, […]

Next to James Oglethorpe, he was the most important person in founding the Georgia colony. John Percival was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Magdalen College at Oxford. He won a seat in the Irish Parliament before he was appointed to the British Privy Council, the sovereign’s private council, a seat he […]

The white South’s opposition to court-ordered desegregation in the 1950s was known as “Massive Resistance,” and while Georgia’s reaction wasn’t as violent as other states, it was no less defiant. On this day in 1956, Governor Marvin Griffin addressed a joint session of the General Assembly and urged lawmakers to invoke the doctrine of interposition […]

The beginnings of the infamous Cherokee Trail of Tears could well be traced to a Lawrenceville courtroom. Governor George Gilmer made Cherokee removal a top priority in the 1820s. But in 1827, the Cherokee Nation established a government and declared themselves sovereign. In response, furious Georgia leaders abolished Cherokee government, and annexed Cherokee land. Meanwhile, […]

Vocabulary – Cherokee Constitution Adopted Sovereign Adjective Independent, self-governing and not ruled by any other state Syllabary Noun a list or set of written characters in which each character represents a single syllable e.g. the Japanese kana Tribe Noun a society or division of a society whose members have ancestry, customs, beliefs, and leadership in […]

Vocabulary – John Percival, Earl of Egmont Born Appointment Noun the selection of somebody for a position, office, or job Privy Council Noun the committee that advises a British king or queen. It consists mainly of present and former members of the Cabinet. Sovereign Noun the ruler or permanent head of a state, especially a […]

Vocabulary – Massive Resistance Opposition Noun Hostile attitude or action, a disapproving attitude toward something and a wish to prevent it Desegregation Verb To put an end to a customary or enforced separation by groups Resistance Noun Opposition to somebody or something, refusal to give in Defiant Adjective Aggressively challenging. Unwilling to change or be […]

Vocabulary – Worcester v. Ga Abolished Annexed Convicted Landmark Missionaries Residency Resolve Sovereign Seize Glossary Abolished: verb; to do away with; put an end to; destroy, make obsolete. Annexed: verb; attached to something larger or more important. Convicted: verb; to prove guilty of an offense, especially after a legal trial. Landmark: adjective; a significant or […]

Learn More -Treaty of New Echota Tim Alan Garrison, The Legal Ideology of Removal: The Southern Judiciary and the Sovereignty of Native American Nations (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002). William G. McLoughlin, Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986). Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green, eds. The Cherokee Removal: […]

Worcester v. Georgia Suggested Readings Tim Alan Garrison, The Legal Ideology of Removal: The Southern Judiciary and the Sovereignty of Native American Nations (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002). Jill Norgren, The Cherokee Cases: The Confrontation of Law and Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996). William G. McLoughlin, Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic (Princeton, N.J.: […]