Theodore Roosevelt

Essay by adanr262046 June 2005

download word file, 7 pages 4.0

This Paper will outline President Theodore Roosevelt's role in helping to

conserve

our environment during his administration (1901-1909). It will also examine

his theory of

a stronger American democracy through environmental conservationism.

"The movement for the conservation of wildlife, and the larger movement for

the conservation of all our natural resources, are essentially democratic in

spirit, purpose, and method." (Roosevelt 274)

As president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt made conservation a

central

policy issue of his administration. He created five National Parks, four Big

Game

Refuges, fifty-one National bird Reservations, and the National Forest

Service. Roosevelt

advocated for the sustainable use of the nation's natural resources, the

protection and

management of wild game, and the preservation of wild spaces. Considering

America's

landscape to be the source of American wealth and the American character,

Roosevelt

believed conservationism was a democratic movement necessary to maintain and

to

strengthen American democracy.

Roosevelt recognized America's vast natural resources as the source of the

country's

economic wealth and subsequent political strength globally. The abundance of

land,

timber, waterways, and mineral deposits fueled the continuing expansion of

American

industry. In a speech addressed to a national conference on conservation held

at the White

House in 1908, Roosevelt stated, "Our position in the world has been attained

by the

extent and thoroughness of the control we have achieved over nature; but we

are more,

and not less, dependent upon what she furnishes than at any previous time of

history."

(Internet 1) The United States had built its economic and political strength

by exploiting

the nation's natural resources; but Roosevelt, like other leading

conservationists, no

longer believed that these natural resources were infinite in their

abundance.

The end of the nineteenth century brought the closing of the frontier, the

near

extinction of the...