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The article presents the transcript of the case the Cherokee Nation vs. the State of Georgia presented before the United States Supreme Court in January of 1831. The transcript states that the case came before the court on a motion on behalf of the Cherokee nation of Indians for an injunction to keep the state of Georgia and all its officials from executing and enforcing the laws of Georgia inside Cherokee territory, as defined by treaties between the United States and the Cherokee nation. Despite treaties granting the Cherokee nation sovereignty, the state of Georgia passed an act, with the assent of the governor, that the territory lying within the state and occupied by the Cherokee Indians would be added to the counties of Carroll, De Kalb, Gwinett, Hall, and Habersham, and be subject to Georgia law. As detailed in the transcript, the Supreme Court denied the injunction, though two justices dissented.

The article presents the text of the State of Georgia's declaration of secession from the Federal Union of the United States, approved January 29, 1861. In stating the reasons for this separation, Georgia cites the United States' acquisition of territory from the victory in the Mexican-American War. The United States Congress decided to prohibit slavery in the new territory, a direct affront to the residents of the South, who had shed blood to win the war and acquire those territories. The declaration also states that Northern states made no effort to turn over persons charged with crimes affecting slave property who had fled to the North, even though the Constitution declares that fleeing criminals ought to be returned to the state in which the crime occurred.

Presents the text of the Georgia Platform of 1850. Georgia's commitment to the Union; Opinion of recent acts by the US Congress to abolish slavery in incoming states; Threat of secession should the Fugitive Slave Law not pass Congress.