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556 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
not to go into effect until June 1, 1830. But, in the meantime, gold had
been discovered on Duke's Creek and in the neighborhood of Dahlonega.
Then followed a rush of adventurous argonauts into the forbidden land
of the Cherokees. It is estimated that by the summer of 1830 there
were at least 3,000 whites from various states digging gold at the sources
of the Chattahoochee. To quote Mr. Phillips:* "The intrusion of
these miners into the Cherokee territory was unlawful under the enact
ments of three several governments, each claiming jurisdiction over the
region. The United States laws forbade any one settling or trading on
Indian territory, without a special license from the proper United States
official; the State of Georgia had extended its laws over the Cherokee
lands, applying them after June 1, 1830, to Indians as well as white
men; and the Cherokee nation had passed a law that no one should
settle or trade on their lands without a permit from their officials.''
Such was the impetuosity of this mad rush to the gold mines that
all of these governments combined did not possess police power requi
site to deal with the situation. However, Governor Gilmer was bent
upon maintaining Georgia's sovereignty upon her own soil. Accord
ingly, when the new law went into effect, he addressed a letter to
President Jackson, telling him that Georgia had extended her jurisdic
tion over the Cherokee lands arid asking him to withdraw the Federal
troops from this quarter.
General Jackson had been an Indian fighter. Consequently, his
point of'view was entirely different from his predecessor's and he did
not hesitate to reverse the policy of President Adams. Without a mo
ment's delay, therefore, he complied with Governor Gilmer's request.
It was at the instance of Judge Augustin S. Clay ton that Governor
Gilmer wrote this letter to President Jackson asking for a withdrawal
of the Federal troops. Judge Clayton's circuit—the western;—included
a large part of the Cherokee domain. Nine citizens of Hall County
had been brought before him by United States officers for trespassing
on the Cherokee lands; and he did not feel like branding as criminals
men whose only offense was that they had gone upon Georgia's soil.
He, therefore, addressed a communication to Governor Gilmer, on June
20, 1830, urging that he ask for a withdrawal of the troops. Hence
the governor's letter to President Jackson.
At a special session of the Legislature called in October, 1830, addi
tional laws were passed for regulating the gold region. To prevent
disorder at the mines a guard of sixty men was provided under an act
of December 22, 1830. At the same time it was made unlawful for any
Cherokee council or legislature to meet, except for the sole purpose
of ceding land; and if any Cherokee official undertook to hold court,
he was to be punished by imprisonment for four years. Moreover, any
white person found in the Cherokee nation, after March 31, 1831, with
out a license from the proper authorities, was to be deemed guilty of a
high misdemeanor, and imprisonment in the penitentiary for four years
was the penalty attached to such a violation of the Georgia laws. To
procure a license it was necessary to take an oath of allegiance to the
State of Georgia,
' Georgia and State Bights," TJ. B. Phillips, pp. 72-73.