Worcester v. Georgia

Table of Contents

Overview

Context

About the Author

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Impact

Document Text

https://doi.org/10.3735/9781935306870.book-part-007

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Abstract

Samuel A. Worcester was a prominent American missionary and publisher who saw the infringement of American settlement in the state of Georgia as a direct threat to the sovereignty of the Cherokee people. Worcester was one of roughly a dozen missionaries who wished to protest a Georgia law prohibiting white men from establishing residency on Cherokee land with permission from the Cherokee but without a license from the state. Worcester argued that by obeying such a law, the Cherokee had de facto surrendered their sovereignty to the state of Georgia. The missionaries established residency and began to publish a newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix, that publicized their actions and advocated for the rights of the Cherokee as protected under federal law.