Georgia Land Lotteries

[4] The Georgia Land Lotteries were generally restricted to free white men, with some exceptions related to soldiers, widows, and children.

During early administration, the government abused this system and created what today is generally known as the Yazoo land scandal.

In October 1831, Georgia voters went to the polls to vote between Governor George Gilmer who wished to reserve the Cherokee land, which contained several gold mines, for the State of Georgia, in order to pay for government projects and reduce taxes, and Wilson Lumpkin, who strongly supported giving away the lands (in what would become the State's last three land lotteries).

Although the U.S. Supreme Court initially ruled against the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court later granted sovereignty in Worcester v. Georgia, resulting in the invalidation of the Indian Removal Act.

[7][circular reference] Georgia continued its surveying and division of the Cherokee lands through the final "1832 Land and Gold Lotteries.” President Jackson utilized the U.S. Army, forcing the removal of the Cherokees.

[8] This was part of the “Trail of Tears,” which modern historians consider an ethnic cleansing or genocide.

A volunteer soldier from Georgia who participated in the removal recounted:I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.