The Antiquities Act of 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt's 'Interpretation of Executive Power' from the Grand Canyon through the Grand Staircase. Author: Daniel Chapin Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/594 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2004 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. The Antiquities Act of 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt’s “Interpretation of Executive Power” From the Grand Canyon Through the Grand Staircase Daniel Chapin April 2004 (Author’s Note: The original version was completed in April 2004. It was edited by the author in August 2005 to make grammatical improvements and to expand Chapter 7. The edited version was resubmitted to the Boston College thesis website in September 2008. The paper does not include material on President George W. Bush’s administration after 2005. Daniel Chapin, September 2008) The Antiquities Act of 1906 is a short and simple law of three sections drafted by archeologist Edgar Hewitt to protect objects of antiquity on public land. Through a long process before the Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, the Act became much more important as a measure, and to some in an improper manner. The issue of contention was the authority contained within Section 2 allowing the president to declare national monuments for qualified public lands. This power delegation was a tool of the progressive politics of the time to promote efficiency and resource protection from the government, but has since been a contentious political issue involving separation of powers, improper use and motive, federalism, and regional political differences. Politics, politicians, political battles, and their context, is essential in any study of monument declarations. Though the Act as written contains the seed, it was not expanded into the power that is has become until Theodore Roosevelt grasped the authority. And because he was the first president to use the authority, he established nearly all of the precedents, including monument qualification, size, and declaration frequency. Roosevelt formed the law not just because of his great interest in conservation and the natural world, but also in the use and implementation of executive authority for the public good. His “interpretation of executive authority” was expansionary and progressive. The president, elected by the people, must act and do whatever is necessary to defend and promote the national aggregate interest. Successful action will automatically develop a legacy for future people to use and update. Though the law must not be broken in the process, it must be read to allow maximum flexibility and responsible political action for the present and the future. In reading the Antiquities Act, Roosevelt quickly demolished the idea the bill was a small and restricted measure to protect objects of antiquity at archeological ruins in the southwestern United States. In so doing he did not read into the Act anything more than what was there on paper. It is the language that enabled him and future like-minded presidents to do it, but it was his style of leadership that transformed the Act into one of the greatest tools of land protection in the United States in the past one hundred years. This paper will outline how Theodore Roosevelt and his interpretation of the Antiquities Act changed the face of American public lands in the twentieth century with the general support of the American people, the federal courts, and the Congress. 2 There will be seven chapters: The first chapter is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, emphasizing how he became the man and the president capable of producing the expansive interpretation of the Act. The second is an examination of the Act’s political and philosophical background. The third is a discussion of President Roosevelt in action creating the interpretation of the act. The next three chapters will detail the development of the Roosevelt interpretation over the course of the twentieth century with particular interest to its most controversial subsequent users: Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. The last will be a concluding chapter about the Act and its future. A copy of the Antiquities Act is featured after this introduction. With footnotes appearing throughout, a bibliographic compilation follows the conclusion of the paper. List of Abbreviations or Definitions: The Act: Antiquities Act of 1906, unless otherwise specified. Alaskan parkland: national interest lands to be entered into National Park, National Forest, National Wildlife Refuge, or National Wild and Scenic River Systems. ANCSA: Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. ANILCA: Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. ANWR: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. BLM: Bureau of Land Management. FLPMA: Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. GLO: General Land Office. MSLF: Mountain States Legal Foundation. NEPA: National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. NLCS: National Landscape Conservation System. NPS: National Park Service. Public Domain: unreserved land owned by the federal government that is open to disposition under the various general land laws in effect. The Secretary: the Secretary of the Interior, unless otherwise specified. Theodore [Roosevelt]: Father of President Theodore Roosevelt. TR: Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States. 3 American Antiquities Act of 1906 16 USC 431-433 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. Sec. 2. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected: Provided, That when such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fied unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in behalf of the Government of the United States. Sec. 3. That permits for the examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War to institutions which the may deem properly qualified to conduct such examination, excavation, or gathering, subject to such rules and regulation as they may prescribe: Provided, That the examinations, excavations, and gatherings are undertaken for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, and that the gatherings shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums. Sec. 4. That the Secretaries of the Departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act. Approved, June 8, 1906 The Interpreter of the Antiquities Act 4 Chapter 1 On June 8, 1906, Theodore Roosevelt signed a short simple piece of conservation legislation into law. There is much to the fact that a president would favor conservation measures at a time in the nation’s history when previous presidents had been generally supportive of letting the public land be dispersed to homesteaders, railroads, mining firms, livestock ranchers, and other connected interests to spur as much economic development and growth in the West as possible. There is no doubt that TR was a prominent guardian of development and increasing the nation’s share in the world geopolitical and economic system; he was capitalist through and through and had a great disdain for those who did not believe in it. However, he felt that unrestrained capitalism, and government that allowed such an economic situation to occur, was destructive. Capitalism must have a democratic aspect to it much like the government; the people must never be ignored. His father was a great example of reasoned civic life, and he always believed that the top in society must never ignore the bottom. Roosevelt was a progressive reformer from his early days in politics and never looked back. From this progressivism Roosevelt became a defender of the natural resources and land that provided the might he wished the country to hold. It would be of no use if the country rapidly expanded to great heights and then fell because it had exhausted all of its energy. Because of his frenetic activity passing legislation, organizing bureaucratic agencies, and using the Antiquities Act, Roosevelt left conservation as a policy matter for all of his successors. His manner of engaging executive power up to a clear point of limitation set the stage for his own use of the Act and has since been held as the example for action by later presidents.