Nevada and Federal Land

"Gentlemen, whenever you have a group of individuals who are beyond any investigation, who can manipulate the press, judges, members of our Congress, you are always going to have in our government those who are above the law."
--Nico Toscani (Above the Law)

Previously we observed the large amounts of land claimed by the federal government in Western states. This bids the obvious question: How did the feds manage to accumulate so much land in these states?

In the case of Nevada, the answer is associated with the election of 1864. Republicans, anxious to acquire the necessary votes to re-elect Lincoln and to bolster majorities in Congress, pushed through a Statehood Act in March, 1864 in order to bring the GOP-friendly state into the fold.

The statute violated standing law that required territories to have at least 60,000 people in order to become a state. At the time, Nevada's population was about 40,000. Of course, by 1864 the federal government had positioned itself well above the law.

In return for statehood that was against the law, Nevada surrendered rights, title, claim to unappropriated land within state borders.

In 1980, President Reagan argued for return of this land to the state. Legal precedents also suggest the unconstitutionality of this statute.

Hopefully, current events will open the eyes of the public to this situation.