Name: ___________________________________
Date: ______________________
Period: ______
Cherokee Assimilation
Many of the Cherokee clans chose to stay on their lands instead of moving west of the Mississippi
River. Rather than move they tried to assimilate into American culture – meaning trying to conform
or become like another culture; taking on customs, religions, dress and work.
Directions: Analyze the documents and identify ways the Cherokee tried to assimilate into American
culture.
Cherokee Document
How does this show assimilation?
Cherokee syllabury
(alphabet)
Cherokee Phoenix
newspaper
Cherokee photos (Chief
John Ross & Major
Ridge)
Cherokee Cabin
Cherokee Constitution
Worcester v. Georgia
Case
Indian Removal Act (1830): The United States Congress has just passed a law. It is called the
Indian Removal Act. It says that all Native Americans must move off their lands and move west. We
have no choice in the matter.
1.
What did the act state?
2. How did this law expand the power of the president? (Hint: think about Jackson’s response to
the Worcester v. Georgia case)
Task: What will we do? Write a persuasive letter to Andrew Jackson. Explain to him the reasons why
you and your clan have decided to stay on your land and the ways that you have assimilated to the
white man’s lifestyle in an effort to stay on your land.
Document 1: Cherokee Syllabury (Symbols & alphabet used by Cherokee)
Document 2: Cherokee Phoenix newspaper (written in English and Cherokee)
Document 3: Cherokee photos (Chief John Ross & Major Ridge)
Major Ridge
Chief John Ross
Document 4: Cherokee cabin
Document 5: Cherokee Constitution
Document 6: Worcester v. Georgia Case
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
The Cherokee people occupied lands in Georgia and several adjoining states. The Cherokee
Nation had made treaties with the U.S. federal government, such as the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785. The
Cherokee Nation thus claimed sovereignty (independence)—meaning it was its own nation with its own
laws.
Samuel Worcester was a minister from Vermont. His mission sent him to the Cherokee capital in
New Echota, Georgia, in 1827. The Georgia government saw Worcester and other missionaries as being
influential in the Cherokee Nation’s resistance to the government of Georgia’s plan to remove the
Cherokee. Because of this, Georgia passed an act that all white persons living in Georgia had to acquire
a state permit and swearing loyalty to the state.
Worcester refused to obtain a permit or to swear loyalty to Georgia. In September 1831,
Worcester and several others were arrested. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to four years of
hard labor.
When Worcester appealed to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee
Nation was a "distinct community" with self-government "in which the laws of Georgia can have no
force." It established the idea that the national government of the United States, and not individual
states, had authority in American Indian affairs.