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You really believe that?

And, you are a conservative?

You support the constitution as written?

Have you ever heard of the “Equal Footing Clause” or our U.S. Constitution?

Are you aware of exactly how the Fed. took Nevada’s public lands?

Would you be willing to allow Nevada to argue the point before SCOTUS, without any preliminary trials beforehand, and would you be happy to abide by the result?

In other words, are you certain you are qualified to make that statement?

I can assure you that several conservative constitutional scholars vehemently disagree!

The federales "took" Nevada "public lands" in several different ways ~ one was with a treaty with Mexico ~ and after that federal ownership has dropped as low as 80% of the territory.

For a good long while virtually the whole place was up for sale under a federal homestead act.

There were few buyers.

BTW, there's this water problem ~ but I guess you know about that.

Regarding Lake Tahoe and that area ~ Reno, Henderson, etc., your first permanent settlers were all relatives of mine ~ and you?

You may well be the first person I've ever encountered on Free Republic who is of the impression their current occupation of a barren wilderness necessarily negates all prior history of ownership in that part of the country.

BTW, regarding "Equal Footing" the Commonwealth of Virginia entered the Union pretty early ~ and when it did so it GAVE all it's unorganized public lands to the United States of America.

That was an area of immense wealth. Later on it was organized in whole or in part as the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

So, yeah, "equal footing".

Whatever did you imagine that meant?

The former Spanish territory of Carolana entered the Union in whole or in part as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The unincorporated territory, including a Sea to Sea territorial claim, was handed over to the United States of America.

After some difficulty with Mexico, who had a competing claim, much of the former Carolana (Carolina) land claims became California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, parts of Florida, Arkansas, and Utah.

So, yeah, "equal footing".

Exactly who did you think you people were?