A machine that separates small particles, such as seeds, from cotton fibers. Its invention in the 1790s made cotton easier to process and cheaper to produce. It had a profound impact on Georgia, where cotton became a large and profitable industry, and it enabled the state to trade with not only other states but also other nations. Due to the cotton gin’s effectiveness and the crop’s profitability, slavery increased in Georgia and the Deep South. This led to the South’s support and defense of the institution of slavery and later led to the Civil War.

A group of American Indians who lived in the southeastern United States, including Georgia, before being moved to reservations in Oklahoma. The Creek chief William McIntosh supported the efforts of the U.S. government to obtain Creek land.

A rapid increase of settlers to Georgia sparked by the discovery of gold near the town of Dahlonega. It spread throughout the state and onto land given to American Indian groups as part of a treaty. Land seized from the Creek and Cherokee for the white settlers eventually led to the removal of the Indians on what would become known as the Trail of Tears.

A system in which up to 200 acres of land were granted to people willing to voyage from Great Britain or from other colonies to settle in Georgia colony. Georgia employed the system in an effort to grow its population.

The president of the United States during the Georgia Gold Rush. He ordered the Cherokee and Creek off Georgian land granted to them by a treaty with the U.S. government. This action led to the removal of the American Indians on what would become known as the Trail of Tears.

A system employed by the state of Georgia in the early 1800s in which some citizens could register to win land previously held by the Cherokee and the Creek.

The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of Worcester v. Georgia.

A controversial Creek chief who supported the United States in its efforts to take Creek land

A means of transporting people and goods that made interstate commerce easier and more profitable beginning in the mid- to late 1800s.

A chief who presided over the Cherokee during their migration from Georgia to Oklahoma on what is commonly known as the Trail of Tears.

The route along which various American Indian groups were forced to walk from the Southeast to reservations west of the Mississippi.

A university created by the General Assembly in 1785. It was the first university in the United States to be created by a state government and it later became a land-grant institution. The founders believed that educated citizens were important to a democratic society, that education should be available to all people, and that the government had a role in providing education.

The case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not make or enforce laws dealing with American Indian groups, reserving such authority for the federal government.

The controversial sale of land by the governor of Georgia and the state’s legislature during the mid-1790s. Tracts of land in what would become Mississippi and Alabama were sold cheaply to political supporters. Though reformers later passed a law nullifying the sales, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the law.