Eminent Domain Author:Dudley C. Gould Did You Know? In 1523 Estevan Gomez kidnapped two natives near today's Newport, Rhode Island, and took them to Spain where the king ordered them freed. As the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and English kidnapped natives of the Americas at will, it became standard practice for white explorers in the wildernesses of America to be hai... more »led by knowing bilinguals. The explorers were threatened by some for good reason. William Penn astonished Charles II by asking what right he had to grab land from Americans. "What," blustered the king, "have I not the right of discovery?" "Just suppose," countered the good Quaker, "a canoe full of savages should by accident discover England; would you abdicate or sell?" After the War for Independence, the stage was set for wholesale theft of Indian lands, for all Indians bore the stigma, real or presumed, of being enemy because many in the North and the South, including the Six Nations, aided the British. They were told they had been on the losing side and according to white man's customs must surrender territory as reparation. Eminent Domain documents the theft of North America by deceitful Europeans and their descendants from its native peoples. Had the Indians banded together and hired a smart international lawyer, had there been one, it would have done them no good for there was no international judge or jury such as The World Court and UN Security Council. They were doomed by the white men's arms, diseases and dishonesty to lose everything.« less