Summary of our third History Forum, given on May 12, 2006

by Professor Douglas Dodd

"Celebrating America’s National Monuments: 100 Years of the Antiquities Act, 1906-2006."

A century ago, on June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law a bill entitled “An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities.” The Antiquities Act—the nation’s first historic preservation law—became a powerful tool for the conservation of natural and cultural resources. The law was the response of the Progressive-era conservation movement to the legacy of loss and destruction that had accompanied the nation’s nineteenth-century mismanagement of public lands.  During the nineteenth century, federal policy toward public lands focused on their ultimate disposal into private ownership.  As a consequence, lands were sold or granted away, and the valuable natural and cultural features on those lands were neglected by the federal government.  Especially at risk were objects of historical and scientific interest.  Native American archeological sites—southwestern cliff-dwellings like those at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon—were literally torn apart by looters and pothunters seeking artifacts to sell to collectors.  Vandals defaced and dismantled historic sites, such as the Spanish mission at Tumacacori, Arizona.  In the Petrified Forest of Arizona, collectors blasted apart mineralized logs with dynamite—and carted the pieces off to be sold as souvenirs.

The Antiquities Act aimed to halt this destruction of the national heritage.  It made illegal the theft or vandalism of any “historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity” located on federal land.  It established a policy of requiring permits—issued only to bona fide universities or museums—for the scientific study and examination of archaeological sites on federal land.  Most importantly, however, it gave the President the power to prevent significant sites from passing into private ownership.  Congress authorized the President to “declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest . . . as national monuments.”   These national monuments would be retained in permanent federal ownership, and their significant defining features would be conserved.

Theodore Roosevelt first exercised these new presidential powers in 1906, when he proclaimed the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming the nation’s first national monument.   Before he left office, he had used the Antiquities Act to create 18 national monuments, including Petrified Forest and Chaco Canyon.  Although the Act instructed that national monuments “shall in all cases be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected,” Roosevelt interpreted the language broadly—Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona (1908) included more than 800,000 acres within its boundaries.

Since Theodore Roosevelt’s day, presidents have used the Antiquities Act to create national monuments more than 120 times.  Twenty-seven of these monuments eventually became national parks.  Only Congress can establish a national park, a political process that can take years, even decades.  But the Antiquities Act allows presidents to act swiftly and decisively to protect threatened areas by proclaiming national monuments.  In doing so, they plant the seeds of future national parks, giving Congress the time to act.  National monuments that Congress eventually expanded and established as national parks include some of the National Park Systems “crown jewels”:  Grand Canyon (Ariz.) and Olympic (Wash.).  Several of California’s national parks, including Lassen Volcanic, Channel Islands, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree, began as national monuments.

Nearly every president since Theodore Roosevelt has used the Antiquities Act to proclaim national monuments.  From conservatives like Taft and Coolidge to liberals like FDR and LBJ, presidents have found the Antiquities Act to be a flexible and powerful tool for the preservation of America’s most significant landscapes and historic sites.  Clinton was the most recent president to use the Antiquities Act, proclaiming twenty new national monuments—and surpassing Theodore Roosevelt’s record of eighteen.  Three of the Clinton monuments, Giant Sequoia, Carrizo Plain, and California Coastal, are here in California.

Over the past century, the Antiquities Act of 1906 has made enormous contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural resources.  It marked the beginning of the nation’s historic preservation laws and helped curb the rampant theft and destruction of artifacts and fossils.  It made possible the creation of more than one hundred national monuments, preserving some of the nation’s most spectacular historic, archaeological, and scenic sites.  In 1872, explorer Clarence King described the Giant Sequoias as “monuments of living antiquity” that would grow “broad and high for centuries to come.”  In the spirit of those Giant Sequoias, the Antiquities Act is a monument of living conservation, ready to serve the nation for another century.

National Monument Proclamations in California

Monument	Date	President
Cinder Cone	1907	T. Roosevelt
Lassen Peak	1907	T. Roosevelt
Muir Woods	1908	T. Roosevelt
Pinnacles	1908	T. Roosevelt
Devils Postpile	1911	Taft
Cabrillo	1913	Wilson
Lava Beds	1925	Coolidge
Death Valley	1933	Hoover
Joshua Tree	1936	F. Roosevelt
Channel Islands	1938	F. Roosevelt
California Coastal	2000	Clinton
Giant Sequoia	2000	Clinton
Carrizo Plain	2001	Clinton

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