The Black Hills, which is where Mt. Rushmore is located, were indeed stolen from the Sioux in flagrant violation of a solemn treaty. As attested by a Supreme Court decision which ordered the US to pay compensation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Sioux_Nation_of_Indians
The Sioux have refused to accept the money because they want their land back instead.
The question is not one of whether the land was stolen, that’s just a fact. It’s one of how to handle things now.
Of course, the Sioux had not too long before stolen the Black Hills from the Cheyenne, who had stolen it from the Kiowa.
Not once did they apply for a LAND GRANT from the King who owned the site outright as a personal possession.
I’m 1/4 Cheyenne, does that mean I get some of Mt. Rushmore too?
American Indian tribes were a lot like Muslims.
They took land from weaker tribes and then clam it as “sacred”.
Current PC history would have us believe that the Indians all lived in harmony with one another and that conquest was something introduced by European invaders. Nothing could be further from the truth.