Among the general power of Congress are, “To exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.”- Article 1, section 8, clause 17.
Get the point? The ONLY lands authorized by the Constitution to be owned by the federal government, are lands that have been BOUGHT from the individual States, and then ONLY for the uses of forts, dock-yards, etc. I would love to see the deeds given to Uncle Sam, for the 86.2% of land areas in Nevada, 61% in Alaska, 52% in Oregon, 49.6% in California, 64% in Idaho, 67% in Utah, 49% in Wyoming, 41% in Arizona, and huge parts of Colorado and other States the federal government claims, administers, controls, and ruins in many cases! Such deeds do not exist. The States, never deeded or sold these lands to the federal government, and in actuality, the federal government doesn’t own them. When Nevada became a State in 1864, it tried to regain land stolen from it by the federal government, but the effort failed.
California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, were formed as a result of a treaty with Mexico, signed in 1848, and commonly called the “Treaty of Hidalgo.” In this treaty, speaking of the transferred lands, they, “Shall be formed into free, sovereign, and independent States and incorporated into the Union of the United States as soon as possible, and the citizens thereof, shall be accorded the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities as citizens of the original States.”
Congress stated in 1787, that when new States were admitted to the Union, it was to be “On equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever.” The original 13 States had no ‘public lands,’ or land owned by the fledgling central government, other than parts of Washington D.C. Land in the original 13 colonies was all privately owned, or belonged to the States. The additional States admitted to the Union since, should be no different than the original 13, namely have no federal land, unless such land was SOLD to the federal government by the States, and then only for “The Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings,” As the Constitution states.
The hundreds of millions of acres, claimed by the federal government, were not bought from the States, and no deeds for such lands exist. The federal government should immediately vacate such properties to the individual States. For over 200 years, the federal government has run roughshod over the Constitutional rights of the individual States, and it should immediately stop.
As each day passes, the outrages committed by the Beltway Bunch, becomes more intolerable. Washington D.C., the wealthiest place on Earth, has a lifestyle and thought process, totally alien to the rest of America, just as our lives are unknown and uncared for by them. When will we stop that untrammeled march over American States, businesses, families, and farms by worthless bureaucrats and the Congress which appoints them?
Myself, David, Melissa, and Morgen, all wish you the Merry Christmas!