That lie Is a luxury of historical ignorance!
by Gregory Thayer
A fashionable slogan has taken hold among young leftists and academic activists: “The United States is stolen land.” It is chanted as if it were self-evident truth—morally righteous, historically settled, beyond debate. It is none of those things. It is a slogan born not of history, law, or realism, but of grievance politics and selective amnesia.
The United States of America was not “stolen” in any meaningful historical or legal sense. It was conquered, settled, negotiated, and purchased—exactly the way every nation on Earth came into being.
History is not a children’s morality tale. It is a record of power, conflict, negotiation, and survival.
After 1776, the United States became a sovereign nation through war against the British Empire. From that point forward, it expanded its territory through international treaties, land purchases, wars with other sovereign states, and agreements with Native tribes. The Louisiana Purchase was bought from France. Florida from Spain. Alaska from Russia. The Southwest came after a war with Mexico. These were recognized, legal transfers of territory under the norms of international law of the time—and those borders remain recognized today.
That alone should end the conversation. But activists insist on collapsing centuries of complex history into a single accusatory word: stolen.
Native American tribes were not ignored or erased by the early United States. On the contrary, they were recognized as political entities. The U.S. government signed hundreds of treaties with tribes—because only nations sign treaties. These agreements involved land cessions in exchange for money, supplies, protection, and reserved territory. Yes, some treaties were violated. Yes, removals were often harsh and unjust by modern standards. That is true. But wrongdoing does not retroactively transform a nation into an illegitimate thief. If it did, then no country on Earth survives scrutiny.
England sits on land conquered from Celts, Romans, Saxons, and Vikings. France absorbed dozens of independent regions by force. Spain conquered Iberia from Muslims who had conquered it from Christians who had conquered it from Romans. China absorbed Tibet and Xinjiang. Turkey occupies the core territory of the Byzantine Empire. Arab empires conquered from North Africa to Persia. Are all these countries “stolen land”? If so, then international borders are meaningless, sovereignty is fiction, and the modern world must be dismantled.
No serious person believes that.
What makes the United States unique—ironically ignored by its loudest critics—is that it is the only major power in history that continues to recognize conquered peoples as sovereign nations within its borders. Native American tribes today control over 56 million acres of land, held in trust and legally protected. They operate their own governments, courts, police, and schools. They receive ongoing federal obligations—healthcare through the Indian Health Service, education funding, housing assistance, and economic development support—rooted in treaty commitments.
No other conquered population in world history received permanent, legally protected land and continuing federal responsibility.
The claim that America “gave nothing” to Native Americans is false. Food, supplies, tools, and yes, even firearms were provided or traded throughout the 18th and 19th centuries—often as part of treaty obligations. Today, Native Americans are U.S. citizens with full constitutional rights, while also retaining tribal citizenship. That dual status is historically unprecedented.
Does acknowledging this mean pretending everything was just or perfect? Of course not. History is filled with moral failure. But acknowledging failure does not require embracing fantasy.
The modern “Land Back” movement exposes the intellectual emptiness of the stolen-land claim. Which tribe gets Manhattan? The Lenape? What about the tribes they displaced? What about land legally purchased from tribes? What about Americans whose families arrived generations later? There is no coherent, non-arbitrary answer—because the demand is not about justice, but symbolism.
America is not a racial inheritance or an ethnic homeland. It is a civic nation, founded on law, citizenship, and constitutional principles. That is precisely what allows people from every background—including Native Americans—to be equal participants in its future. Reducing the United States to a moral crime scene frozen in 1600 denies the very idea of progress, reconciliation, and shared citizenship.
The “stolen land” slogan is easy to chant because it demands nothing practical and resolves nothing real. It offers moral superiority without responsibility. It ignores that history cannot be undone—only understood.
America was built the same way nations always are: through struggle, compromise, victory, and growth. It has made grave mistakes—and also unprecedented efforts to correct them. That complexity is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be mature enough to face.
The United States is not stolen land. It is conquered, settled, purchased, and earned land, governed land, defended land—and shared land, under the rule of law. And slogans will never change that reality.
Parents and educators need to start teaching real United States history to their students, children. Let’s teach the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and law & order to all the students.
Greg Thayer is a Rutland resident and former candidate for lieutenant governor.