Determined to test the constitutionality of the hostile legislation
of Georgia, application was made at the January term, 1831, of the
Supreme Court of the United States, by John Ross, as principal chief,
in the name of the Cherokee Nation, for an injunction against the
State of Georgia. The application was based on the theory that the
Cherokee Nation was a sovereign and independent power in the sense
of the language of the second section of the third article of the
Constitution of the United States providing for judicial jurisdiction
of cases arising between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign
states, citizens, or subjects. The majority of the court declared that
the Cherokee Nation was not a foreign nation in the sense stated in the
Constitution, and dismissed the suit for want of jurisdiction. From
this decision, however, Justices Thompson and Story dissented.[368]