-=> Quoting Sondra Ball to Jim Casto <=-
 JC > I seriously doubt that
 > anyone who came out West on the Oregon Trail ever considered the 
ossibilit
 > that the land was not the U.S. Government's to give away.
 SB> "Anyone" is a strong statement.  Many did not.  Maybe most did not.
 SB> some knew very well what they were doing.
 
 I guess the way I read my statement it says that "some" would include those
 that thought the land was "free" for the "taking" simply because it was
 "empty". In your example, if even one or two people _knew_ that they would
 dispossess natives by coming west on the Oregon Trail then: "some knew very
 well what they were doing". Again, most people wouldn't even consider that
 as a reason for "staying home", for instance to put it another way. It 
asn't
 in the American psyche to worry about "unoccupied" land. I don't think 
nyone
 said: "But we can't go west. The Indians own all the land." It was either
 "free" for the taking or the government "owned" it in their eyes. 
 
 To put it another way, I haven't come across any letters, diaries, etc. from
 the Oregon Trail that said anything like: "We are going west to push some 
 Indians off their legally held land even though it's wrong." (It _might_ be
 there, but I haven't come across it.)
 Jim
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