"John Marshall has Made his Decision, so I must enforce it"

For those of you unfamiliar, the Trail of Tears was a rather traumatic event in American history that resulted in the forced removal of Amerindians in the Deep South. However, it wasn't even entirely legal. WorcestervGeorgia, a famous court case, gave the United States federal government power over Native Americans, and made the actions of Georgia and other states in removing Amerindians unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the sitting president at the time was the much loved Andrew Jackson, who is famously quoted as saying "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." The Trail of Tears continued.

But what if a Whig or a more constitutionally minded Democrat was in office at the time, and took actions to stop the forced relocations? Could this save (at least some) of the Five Civilized Tribes, or would something eventually happen to destroy them as white settlers sought their prime cotton growing land?

If the Amerindians could be saved, results would certainly be interesting. These tribes, especially the Cherokee, where actually making a large effort to integrate into American society, adopting White customs and holding slaves just like their European-descended neighbors. The culture they could form would be a very interesting mix of Native American And Southern culture, which could lead to a lot of interesting possibilities.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it too late to save these tribes, or can timely government intervention and assimilation keep them alive? If there is an alt civil war, could the Cherokee, Creek, etc. form a pro-Union block, even creating their own influential voting block out of the ashes of the Civil War (there were only about 11-12K Indians at the time of the Trail of Tears, so having their own state is doubtful)?
 
I doubt the tribes would fair better if they weren't kicked out of the Southern states. The white settlers, as you said, really wanted the most fertile lands for cotton and tobacco. Without the Trail of Tears, the federal government will dispossess the tribes of more and more territory until they are crowded onto tiny reservations consisting of the most rugged and least productive lands. This could create conflict with some of the early Appalachian white settlers, and much later on, an interesting possible creóle culture.
 
The Trail of Tears didn't actually start until Van Buren, IIRC.

You might be setting up an earlier sectional crisis. IIRC the Georgia state militia was larger than the federal army at the time, so this could be a real mess.
 
The Trail of Tears didn't actually start until Van Buren, IIRC.

You might be setting up an earlier sectional crisis. IIRC the Georgia state militia was larger than the federal army at the time, so this could be a real mess.

There was actually almost a showdown over a fraudulent treaty signed with the Creek. Georgia leaders signed a "treaty" with some minor Creek chiefs with no authority to do so (and who were later sentenced to death by the tribe), and when the tribe protested, the federal government stepped in and negotiated a new treaty with the actual Creek leaders. The state of Georgia then demanded the terms of the fraudulent treaty be honored, and drew out the state militia against federal troops. In the end Quincy Adams folded.

The Trail of Tears didn't actually start until Van Buren, IIRC.

You might be setting up an earlier sectional crisis. IIRC the Georgia state militia was larger than the federal army at the time, so this could be a real mess.

Indian Removal had started under Jackson, with American officials telling tribes they had no choice in the matter. They just didn't send in troops to force-march resisters until the Van Buren administration. Hundreds of Native Americans in total still died on some poorly-provisioned marches west under the Jackson administration, always when they were given no choice in the matter, even if at that time they didn't literally have bayonets at their backs yet.
 
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