Laws and policies were established to justify the removal and relocation of American Indians. Although many Indian tribes left peacefully, other tribes resisted. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), Chief Justice John Marshall described the Indians as "wards" of the federal government. They deserved paternal respect and protection, but lacked the status of citizens that would allow the Supreme Court to enforce their rights. So the justices could not block Georgia's efforts to expand jurisdiction over the tribe. Worcester v. Georgia 1832, a court case was filed by Samuel Worcester, a missionary living on Indian lands with the permission of the Cherokees and the United States government. He argued that the State of Georgia did not have jurisdiction over Indian lands. The Supreme Court ruled that Indian tribes were sovereign nations and not subject to state laws. Trail of Tears was the result of the Indian Removal Policy, General Winfield Scott and the U.S. Army forced 18,000 Cherokee Indians to travel from Georgia to an area in present-day Oklahoma. A quarter of men, women and children died during the winter