Samuel Worcester, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Samuel Worcester

Christian missionary to Cherokee, civil rights advocate

Date of Birth: 19-Jan-1798

Place of Birth: Peacham, Vermont, United States

Date of Death: 20-Apr-1859

Profession: translator, Bible translator

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


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About Samuel Worcester

  • Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was a missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee's sovereignty.
  • He collaborated with Elias Boudinot in the American Southeast to establish the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper.
  • The Cherokees gave him the honorary name A-tse-nu-sti, which translates to "messenger" in English.Worcester was arrested and convicted for disobeying Georgia's law restricting white missionaries from living in Cherokee territory without a state license.
  • On appeal, he was the plaintiff in Worcester v.
  • Georgia (1832), a case that went to the United States Supreme Court.
  • The court held that Georgia's law was unconstitutional.
  • Chief Justice John Marshall defined in his dicta that the federal government had an exclusive relationship with the Indian nations and recognized the latter's sovereignty, above state laws.
  • Both President Andrew Jackson and Governor George Gilmer ignored the ruling. After receiving a pardon from the subsequent governor, Worcester left Georgia on a promise to never return.
  • He moved to Indian Territory in 1836 in the period of Cherokee removal on the Trail of Tears.
  • His wife died there in 1839.
  • Worcester resumed his ministry, continued translating the Bible into Cherokee, and established the first printing press in that part of the United States, working with the Cherokee to publish their newspaper.
  • In 1963, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

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