Changes

The Cherokee Nation resisted, however, challenging in court the Georgia laws that restricted their freedoms on tribal lands. In his 1831 ruling on Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that “the Indian territory is admitted to compose a part of the United States,” and affirmed that the tribes were “domestic dependent nations” and “their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian.” However, the following year the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that Indian tribes were indeed sovereign and immune from Georgia laws. President Jackson nonetheless refused to heed the Court’s decision. He obtained  ====The Treaty of New Echota Splits the signature Cherokee Nation====A minority faction of the Cherokee nation led by John Ridge realized that there was little they could do to prevent removal from their lands. Instead of fighting it, they decided to negotiate a treaty with the United States to get the best terms possible. The Cherokee chief agreeing Nation divided on between Ridge's Treaty Party and John Ross's National Party. A delegation was sent to relocation negotiate a Treaty and they ultimately were promised $5 million dollars and the right to hold the lands in modern-day Oklahoma in perpetuity. Ridge's group agreed to the terms and received approval from the Treaty of Party in New Echota, which . Congress then ratified against the protests of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay in 1835. The Cherokee signing party represented only a faction of the Cherokee, and the majority followed Principal Chief John Ross in a desperate attempt to hold onto their land. This attempt faltered in 1838, when, under the guns of federal troops and Georgia state militia, the Cherokee tribe were forced to the dry plains across the Mississippi.