1829 - Gold discovered on Cherokee lands

When gold was discovered on Cherokee lands, white prospectors flooded over the border onto their lands, and the state of Georgia used this as a pretext for declaring all treaties with Indian nations to be null and void.

        When gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia, whites poured onto Cherokee lands by the thousands, ignoring treaties, burning villages, and flaunting the U.S. Constitution and the Non-Intercourse laws passed by Congress.  The Cherokee turned to Washington for help, but President Andrew Jackson responded by withdrawing all federal troops from the area and turning a blind eye to the reports of wide-spread carnage.

 

(for more on the Cherokee 'gold rush,' click here)