Property Rights Should Prevail in State Trespass

Forced pooling violates the basic principles of our nation.

In 1861, the U. S. government seized property (in Alexandria, VA) of accused traitor Robert E. Lee. His family was forced to surrender their property and their belongings; they damaged the land, cut their timber and built a community there. The government was “entrenched” in its trespass.

Over the next nine years, some 15,000 soldiers were buried on the Lee property. Houses, schools and churches sprang up to accommodate the new population of 1500 people growing food for the war effort.

After the war, Lee’s family argued that the forced taking of property violated the Constitution. Soon, politicians began to clamor that the property was hallowed ground, a shrine for “the sacred dead.”

In 1879, a jury found that the government deprived Lee of his property without due process of law. The court said it was obvious that the forced taking was intentional, “evil” and “unconstitutional.”

The U. S. Supreme Court in 1882 affirmed the lower court ruling in favor of Lee; the forced taking of property by anyone, without due process of law is “unconstitutional.”

Rick Humphreys, Mannington (Marion County)