Theodore Roosevelt loved to explore and generally be adventurous. Roosevelt participated in a bear-hunting trip in 1902 although he didn’t want to kill the bears he just wanted to catch them. Roosevelt refused to kill a bear that the hunters caught so they gave him the name “Teddy”. This how Theodore received the name “Teddy” and that name is used in present time to identify a bear as a “Teddy Bear”. Theodore Roosevelt was a big part in American History although he faced troubles but that did not stop him from his dream which has impacted Americans after him.
Theodore Roosevelt had a rough start in his early life in his hometown of Manhattan, New York City in October 27, 1858. Roosevelt looked up to his parent’s Theodore Sr. and Martha Bulloch “Mittie” Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s family was very wealthy, Theodore Sr. was a businessman and philanthropist. Martha was a Southerner, she grew up in Georgia on a farm. Roosevelt grew up surrounded by the love of his parents and siblings, he looked up to his whole family. Roosevelt born in New York City, spent his earlier years of life battling asthma. (“Theodore Roosevelt. 2) Roosevelt as a teenager decided to join the gymnastics and weight-lifting program. This helped Roosevelt to get rid of his asthma, Roosevelt always found time to go out and ride bikes and exercise. When Roosevelt was young, he was taught by private teachers, Roosevelt had private teachers because the family, he was staying with in Germany for quite some time moved around all the time they adventured through Europe and the Middle East in the 1860s.
Theodore Roosevelt faced a troubled childhood by moving around the country and never staying in one place but that did ot stop the great Theodore Roosevelt. When he came home from Germany there were some major life changes. Roosevelt moved back into his parents’ house in 1872 and soon after that he entered Harvard College. When attending Harvard College he studied subjects such as German, Zoology, Natural History, Forensics, and Composition. He also was staying on top of his workout schedule. While attending Harvard, Roosevelt met Alice Hathaway Lee and instantly fell in love with her.
Alice was a young woman from New England and was from a wealthy banking family, he met Alice through a friend at Harvard. Therefore Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University in 1880, After he met Alice Hathaway Lee and later married her (“Theodore Roosevelt” 1). Roosevelt enrolled in another school called Columbia Law School, but soon dropped out after one year to pursue a public service career. Soon after that Roosevelt was elected to the New York Assembly and served two terms in office. Soon after that a horrible tragedy struck Roosevelt in 1884.
On February 12th, Alice was giving birth to a daughter named Alice Lee, Two days after the birth Roosevelt’s mother died of typhoid fever and his wife died of kidney disease one right after each other under the same roof. A few months after that, Roosevelt started pursuing a political career to escape his troubles. Roosevelt left his daughter under the protection of his sister and fled to the Badlands. When he was out West, Roosevelt picked up on the country lifestyle and decided to raise cattle and start to hunt grizzly bear. Roosevelt bought two ranches and thousands of cattle.
He had many hardships in the West, but then Roosevelt gave up that life and went back East. While on the way back Roosevelt was reunited with the love of his life, Edith Kermit Carow. Soon after that Edith and Roosevelt got married and had five children. Theodore Roosevelt created policy’s such as Conservation Policy and the Foreign Relations Act these have impacted America which can be felt today. Roosevelt came into a presidency that was already on its way to being great. After the 1898 Spanish-American was Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam had Spain ceded to the United States. The United States had Hawaii and Cuba in there hands.
The first time ever, the United States had an empire. Roosevelt wanted to increase the United States influence on the world. Roosevelt believed that the exportation of values and ideals would effect the world. Roosevelt sought to make a strong defense for the United States to avoid enemies who look for weakness. Roosevelt continued to end the isolationism that had dominated the country since the 1800s, pushing in foreign affairs, mostly without the support of Congress. As president from 1901 to 1909, he signed legislation to establish new parks such as Crater Lake, Wind Cave, Sully’s Hill, Mesa Verde, Platt.
“Theodore Roosevelt and the National Park System. ‘) All the established parks are under his famous “Conservation Policy”. The legacy of the conservation policy was found to established 230 million acres to public land. Most of the land was put towards national forests. Roosevelt create the USFS an organization in the Department of Agriculture. The idea to conserve forests was the main idea of the USFS. Roosevelt also created the Federal Bird Reserve, and would establish more than 51 of these during his presidency.
These would later become the national wildlife refuges, managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). There is a national wildlife refuge in every state, North Dakota holds the most refuges of any state. Theodore Roosevelt was a big part in the National Park System this is what he spent most of his time on during his presidency. One of Roosevelt’s most major national parks that was ever created was called the Yosemite Nation Park. Yosemite is not just a great valley, but its human sight, strength of granite, huge glaciers, the life, and the High Sierra attract more people every year.
Yosemite was protected in 1864, Yosemite is best known for there waterfalls, the park is over 1,200 square miles of protected land. You can find valleys, meadows, ancient giant sequoias, and a vast wilderness area. Roosevelt was also fascinated in making National Monuments, Since he did not need congress’s approval to create national monuments he could do that much quicker than he could national parks. He made series of national monuments his first national monument was Devil’s Tower established in 1906.
Devils Tower has a beautiful geologic feature that looks like open fields of Black Hills. Devils Tower is thought to be sacred to the Indians and other tribes. Hundreds of cracks make it one of the finest crack climbing areas in the United States. One of Roosevelt’s most prized national monuments would be Mount Olympus. Olympus has a outstanding elevation, and is nearly a million acres long. Olympus has a magnificent wilderness, thousands of years of history, and several different ecosystems, including glacier mountains, temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of coastline.