Final answer:
The U.S. Supreme Court case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, decided that the Cherokee Nation did not meet the criteria for being a foreign nation. However, it recognized tribes' entitlement to their ancestral lands. A later case, Worcester v. Georgia, went further to categorize tribes as domestic dependent nations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The U.S. Supreme Court case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, ruled that the Cherokee Native Americans did not meet the criteria for being a foreign nation. This historical decision rejected the Cherokees' claim of being an independent foreign nation which could challenge Georgia laws made to eradicate them. According to the court ruling in 1831, Cherokee Nation were not a sovereign nation but were entitled to their ancestral lands and could not be forcibly removed from them.
However, President Andrew Jackson, the Georgia state government, and even some Cherokee members disagreed with this decision. Their reluctance to acknowledge the court's decision followed by their forced removal resulted in one of the most tragic chapters in US History, the Trail of Tears.
Nonetheless, a subsequent court case, Worcester v. Georgia, passed a year later, provided some positive legal standing for the tribe. It declared tribal nations as 'domestic dependent nations', therefore acknowledging the sovereignty rights of the Cherokees in their own territory.
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