Samuel Austin Worcester

Released
Date of birth:19. 01. 1798
Date of death:20. 04. 1859
Age:61† Deceased
Race:White
Era:1800s
State:Georgia
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year 4 Months 21 Days
Support
Indigenous Sovereignty Religious Liberty
Samuel Austin Worcester

Biography

Samuel Austin Worcester was a Congregationalist missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) at New Echota in the Cherokee Nation, where he also served as federal postmaster. Convicted on September 15, 1831 under Georgia's law barring white persons from living in Cherokee territory without a state license, he and Elizur Butler alone refused the offered clemency and were imprisoned at hard labor. His appeal produced the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision Worcester v. Georgia (1832), holding that Georgia's laws had no force within the Cherokee Nation. He was released on January 14, 1833.

Cases

Georgia Penitentiary
Charges: Residing within the Cherokee Nation without a license from the Governor and without taking the oath of allegiance to the State of Georgia, in violation of Georgia's act of December 22, 1830.
Incarcerated: Sep 15, 1831
Released: Jan 14, 1833
Sentence: Four years at hard labor. Refused the clemency terms Georgia offered the other defendants and was committed to the penitentiary at Milledgeville; released January 14, 1833 by Governor Wilson Lumpkin's discharge order following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia. Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted September 15, 1831.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Georgia
Camp Gilmer
Charges: Residing in the Cherokee Nation without a Georgia license (July 1831 arrest by the Georgia Guard).
Arrested: Jul 7, 1831
Incarcerated: Jul 7, 1831
Released: Jul 23, 1831
Sentence: Arrested at New Echota, allowed to spend the first night at home because his wife was seriously ill, then marched to Camp Gilmer and taken to Lawrenceville under a writ of habeas corpus, where he posted security for the September term. Verdict as recorded: No — released on bond to appear at the September 1831 court term.
Convicted: No
Institution State: Georgia
Charges: Residing in the Cherokee Nation without a Georgia license (first Georgia Guard arrest, March 1831).
Arrested: Mar 13, 1831
Incarcerated: Mar 13, 1831
Released: Mar 19, 1831
Sentence: Arrested at Carmel, taken through the guard headquarters to Lawrenceville, and discharged the following Saturday because he was then the federal postmaster at New Echota. Verdict as recorded: No — discharged by Judge Augustin Clayton as the federal postmaster at New Echota.
Convicted: No

Related Cases

Thomas Gann Austin Copeland Elizur Butler John F. Wheeler Samuel Mays Surry Eaton Benjamin F. Thompson Edward Delosier