Hello. The question is incomplete. The entire question reads:
"What entitlement [right] do we possess to take that land, which has been possessed by others for a long time...? "What is commonly shared among all is rightfully owned by none. [Native Americans] govern vast territories without any claim or ownership; they neither enclose land nor have livestock to maintain it.... So why shouldn't Christians be allowed to inhabit their unoccupied lands and forests (leaving them the areas cultivated for their crops)...? For God has granted humanity a dual entitlement to the earth; there exists a natural entitlement and a civil [political] entitlement. The initial entitlement was natural, when humanity occupied the land in common, each person planting and gathering as they wished. As populations of humans and livestock grew, specific pieces of land were enclosed [claimed as property]... Eventually, this led to civil entitlements."
Summarize briefly ONE argument made in the excerpt.
Answer:
Because Native Americans have not asserted their civil rights over their territory, it's claimed that the natural rights given by God to everyone allow Christians to rightfully take control of the land alongside the natives.
Explanation:
This passage shown in the earlier question was authored by John Winthrop, who was part of the initial English settlers in North America and later served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In this writing, Winthrop defends the colonizers' decision to inhabit America, despite it being a land already populated and owned by others. In this passage, Winthrop argues that God granted men a natural right over land, which was supposed to be common to all. Through their actions, men claimed civil rights to certain plots, becoming owners who could restrict others from utilizing it. Nonetheless, since Native Americans have never claimed civil rights to their territories, it legitimizes the application of natural law, permitting Christians to claim the land as their own.
