The Antiquities Act became law in 1906 at the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt. The law allows presidents to declare national monuments, and thus preserve public land, without congressional approval. While the use of the Act has varied over time, in recent Democratic administrations this legislation has become a major component of environmental policy making. This study examines the use of the Antiquities Act by presidents in order to understand this Act as a policy device and what its development says about environmental policy in modern times. The article also discusses recent efforts to redefine this presidential power.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.