Research Paper
HON120
History of exploration and conservation : Contradicting Theodore Roosevelt
Progressive era – racism
The things that happen in the the future are the reflections of actions in the past. We should always learn from what was done in the past so we can avoid the mistakes made in the past. This way we can also understand the foundation of where we are in the present and have a better estimate of where we will be in the future. The steps taken consciously or unconsciously in the process of doing things are not always good. Sometimes, the decisions we make end up hurting other people or ourselves. But, we still need to acknowledge these things, whether be mistakes or not, so we know where we stand and also if we did end up making mistakes, we do not repeat them. For the purpose of this paper, we discuss the presidential term of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States of America and his successes as the President, what he achieved and how he was able to achieve those things by critically analyzing his activities as the President. We will also discuss the expeditions he took, what he did in those expedition, mainly through the books that he has written. Mostly, people only focus on the positive things he has achieved as a President. But in this paper, we will discuss the things that are usually not given much time or attention to merely because of the positive results of the actions had taken. Even with positive results, the process of getting those positive results is important and needed to be discussed as we know where we stand and how we got where we are now.
“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 1909) Theodore Roosevelt, also known as the ‘conservationist President’, made significant impacts towards the conservation of nature and its resources. His environmental efforts have been applauded throughout the century as he was one of the first people to give natural resource conservation priority during his administration. During the 1900s the American culture drove towards heavily exploiting natural resources with deforestation and overgrazing of land, increase in mining and other wasteful practices. There was a ‘tradition of waste’ developed within the Americans and the then President Theodore Roosevelt, created policies that would control such misuse of resources as well as conserve the existing resources. During his time, he created five National Parks, four Big Game Refuges, fifty-one National bird Reservations, and the National Forest Service. Roosevelt always advocated for preserving wilderness and wild spaces and also appraised the importance of conservatism. He incorporated the environmental movement into his political agenda and always considered he emphasized on protecting and promoting the natural landscapes in the US and he considered them as American wealth."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."(Roosevelt 1908) As a part of the ‘conservation movement’, Roosevelt put more land owned by government towards making national parks and preserves than all the other U.S. Presidents together. He placed approximately 230,000,000 acres (930,000 km2) of land under public protection.
The 1906 Nobel Peace Prize winner has undoubtedly done great things in the field of conservation. He worked for sustainable practices which helped minimize the risks of overexploitation of resources. Although his actions brought positive changes towards the betterment of the environment, the question that everyone forgets to ask is how did he do this? What was the process behind all this? Theodore Roosevelt always wanted to be a naturalist as a child and made his dreams come true as the President of the U.S. by initiating and involving himself in all the environmental activism. The motive is an important part of the result that has been achieved, but the process taken to accomplish his visions are a huge part of the discussion. This part of the motive is always ignored. As mentioned earlier, only the good side of Roosevelt’s achievements are taken into consideration. We never talk about where he went wrong or what he did to get where he was. In the process of creating all these great national parks and museums, Roosevelt did things that are not all great. Be it dehumanizing a certain race or objectifying animals – the president who created national parks, conservation and helped improve the existing condition of the environment had done it all.
“The eland is the king of the antelope; and not only did I desire meat for camp but I wished the head of a good bull as a trophy for myself, the eland I had hitherto shot being for the National Museum.”(Roosevelt 327) Roosevelt in his book ‘African Game trails, one of the 40 books he had written, he writes about his expedition and a journal on what he did. In this book, he has recorded the number of animals he killed and the people he met along the way. In pages 457-459, he has shown pictures of the animals he killed and listed the animals as well. He and his son Kermit killed a total of 512 animals and birds which included 17 lions, 3 leopards, 7 cheetahs, 9 hynas, 11 elephants, 10 buffalos, 11 black rhinos and 9 white rhinos. He was collecting sample specimens to bring back but did he really need to kill 512 creatures? This also brings it back to killing animals to prove a point – prove his masculinity and superiority as an affluent, white man.
“Early next morning… the dead elephant lay… .three days in taking off and preparing the skin” (Roosevelt 317).
Theodore Roosevelt also wrote 40 books and some of these books are about his expeditions and adventures he took. His books portray how his journey went in his words, so even though it is a primary source in terms of history, these books are not the accurate representation of what things were like in the past. It is more like the world through Roosevelt’s eyes biases by his own prejudices and thoughts.
However, it was as a conservationist that Roosevelt asked to be made aware of exact numbers of all the animals on his hunt, and their exact distribution before he would shoot anything. In many cases he understood the probability that the species was doomed. Collecting them for study to Roosevelt meant achieving their preservation and granting humanity an understanding.
This duality, Roosevelt’s love of nature juxtaposed with his passion for killing it, is perhaps the most misunderstood part of Roosevelt’s legacy. Passenger pigeons, for example had been on the decline since the 1870s, a fact Roosevelt well understood. They were teetering on the brink of extinction, when he readily hunted and killed several of them.
“In what would become a lifelong pattern,” Lunde explains, “Theodore collected [the passenger pigeon] specimens, knowing how valuable they would become, scientificall
Roosevelt certainly wouldn’t argue that he enjoyed these hunts. But to Teddy, hunting and preserving big-game animals held long-term value for humanity’s study of life on Earth.
The end of the nineteenth century brought the closing of the frontier, the near extinction of the buffalo, and the extinction of the passenger pigeon. Both species had
symbolized America's endless natural abundance, and their destruction forced many
Americans to question the myth of nature's infinitude. Understanding the finite quality of America's natural resources, Roosevelt felt that the nation's dependency on them could now become the nation's weakness if the reckless and wasteful exploitation of
these resources continued. The conservation and management of the nation's natural
resources was urgently necessary to ensure their future availability. Roosevelt went on
to say in his speech to the conference on conservation, "It is equally clear that these
resources are the final basis for national power and perpetuity." (Internet 1) Concerned about the long term well being of the nation, Roosevelt regarded the land as an economic resource which must be…
For the purpose of this class, I have chosen to research about the history of American exploration and what lead to the Evolution of the Conservation Movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In this paper, I will not only discuss about the act of exploration in terms of the animals and wildlife exploration but also discuss other social factors like how race, culture and civilization was viewed in the early 20th century. It shows how people in a different race is viewed by a white supremacist. Killing a lot of animals to collect species to bring back and its logistics are also discussed. Even though he minimized the commercial use of water and other natural resources, in this paper, the things he has done are critically analyzed using “African Game Trails”, a book Theodore Roosevelt wrote in the early 20th century as a product of his expedition in Africa and other journal articles.
Teddy Roosevelt’s nature was not empty wilderness. It was and is indigenous land,
“In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. the excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wildlife, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.” (Roosevelt 81)
his narrative is a straightforward chronicle of the trip, laced with tips on tracking and hunting African big game, and observations and opinions about Africa and its peoples, many of which are politically incorrect by today's standards. T.R. believed in the inferiority of most African peoples and recommended they be civilized by European rule.For the most part, however, African Game Trails is a book about big game hunting. Over the course of the year, the Roosevelts collected (i.e. shot) 1,100 specimens, including eleven elephants, twenty rhinoceroses, seventeen lions, twenty zebra, seven hippopotamuses, seven giraffes, and six buffalo. This was a different era, to be sure. In a way that makes the account all the more valuable. African Games Trails is well-written and rolls along easily, like a good, long, after-dinner story. It is also a striking record of early 20th-century African culture and natural history. It is great fun and highly recommended for the non-squeamish.
Primary Source
Roosevelt, T. (1910). African game trails. New York, NY: Scribner.
Secondary Source
A Raven in a Coal Scuttle: Theodore Roosevelt & the Animal Coloration Controversy. (1995). The American Biology Teacher, 57(1), 14-20. doi:10.2307/4449907
Schullery, P. (1978). A Partnership in Conservation: Roosevelt & Yellowstone. Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 28(3), 2-15. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4518293
The Environmental Issue in the 1984 Elections. (1984). Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation), 56(10), 1069-1072. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25042443
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (2015). “The Deer Family”, p.81, Loose Cannon
Conservation in the Progressive Era – American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation Teacher Resources – Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/progress/conserve/
Parry, W., Ward, S., & Nash, W. (1977). Part I – Geology and Geochemistry of the Roosevelt Hot Springs – A Summary. Part II – Geophysics of the Roosevelt Hot Springs Thermal Area, Utah. Part III – Roosevelt Hot Springs Area Field Trip. doi:10.2172/893367