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> Parcel of public land

America bootstrapped its private property market. (No. Bad elephant.) All of her land was "first" public land (or royal land) and then granted to private persons.

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That distinction is only relevant if talking about selling a patent from one patent holder to another. Instead we're talking about creating a patent.

There's a big difference between a parcel of private land changing hands, and a parcel of public land becoming private.

All of it was home to people already here, who didn't claim ownership the way we think of private, or even public, property. Perhaps "stolen land" would be apt.

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