The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery: Georgia's Final Seizure of Cherokee Territory

Background: Indian Removal Act (1830)

Congress authorized forced relocation of Southeastern tribes. The Cherokee resisted legally (Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Worcester v. Georgia), but Georgia pressed ahead.

The Lottery Mechanism

• Name: Cherokee Land Lottery of 1832 (also 1832 Gold Lottery for mineral rights)
• Land: ~6.9M acres of Cherokee territory in NW Georgia
• Parcels: 160-acre (agricultural) and 40-acre (gold) lots
• Eligibility: White GA citizens (veterans, widows, orphans got extra draws)
• Process: Names and land lots drawn from barrels in Milledgeville

Outcome

• ~85,000 winners received grants
• Cherokee families still living on allotted land → dispossessed
• Speculators flipped lots; Cherokee received nothing

Trail of Tears Connection

The lottery accelerated pressure for removal. In 1838–39, ~16,000 Cherokee were forcibly marched west; ~4,000 died. The lottery was the legal veneer for ethnic cleansing.

Historical Verdict

Widely condemned as a fraudulent, racist land grab violating treaties and Supreme Court rulings. Georgia's "lottery" was a rigged game.