1 (1831), the Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving the tribe of rights within its geographical boundaries, but the Supreme Court did not hear the case on its merits.

It ruled that it had no original jurisdiction in the matter, since the Cherokees were a dependent nation, with a relationship to the United States like that of a "ward to its guardian".

One year later, however, in Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832), the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign.

According to the decision, this meant that Georgia had no right to enforce state laws in the Cherokee territory.

President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, however, instead directing the expulsion of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia.

Of the 15,000 who left Georgia, 4,000 died on the journey to Indian Territory in the present-day U.S. state of Oklahoma.