Are we living on stolen land?
This is a claim you will hear from leftists and native activists, but is it true? There are three considerations when addressing this accusation. First, North America is vast. The native population in what is now the United States was estimated to be roughly 3-5 million, as opposed to the nearly 350 million that it is now. That means there were huge swaths of land that were unoccupied and unclaimed and therefore not stolen. Some lands became unoccupied due to a tribe dying out for various reasons. This happened to the Patuxet. They were wiped out by an epidemic, so by the time the pilgrims landed on Cape Cod, that land was unoccupied. Second, some of the land was fairly sold/traded to the Europeans. There are certainty instances of treaties being broken, and the natives didn't understand land ownership the way the Europeans did, at least initially. Regardless, not all land was obtained through duplicity or war. Third, and perhaps the most poignant, "all" nations have come...