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Thomas Jefferson and the American Indian Nations: Native American Sovereignty and the Marshall Court
Author(s) -
BRAGAW STEPHEN G.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of supreme court history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1540-5818
pISSN - 1059-4329
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5818.2006.00133.x
Subject(s) - cherokee , presidency , jeffersonian democracy , sovereignty , law , politics , state (computer science) , supporter , political science , citizenship , federalist , history , archaeology , algorithm , computer science
The Cherokee Removal Cases — Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1 and Worcester v. Georgia 2 —stand as the dramatic last act of the Marshall Court era. Thomas Jefferson was long dead by the time of the removal of the American Indians from the land north and south of the Ohio River. Yet in many ways the Cherokee Removal Cases that bedeviled Marshall in his final years on the Court were Jefferson's revenge, the first bitter fruits of policies adopted during his presidency that created the political and legal environment for the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Cherokee Nation litigation itself. This Jeffersonian legacy is ironic, given that Jefferson as a scholar, diplomat, and Secretary of State was an ardent supporter of Indian sovereignty and eventual citizenship. Yet these views were subordinated during his presidency to concerns of what we would term “national security,” to preserve the Union, and to advance the interests and needs of his political party.