Antiquities Act of 1906
What is the purpose of the Antiquities Act of 1906?
Who signed the Antiquities Act of 1906 into law and why?
What was the controversy surrounding Pres. Donald Trump’s actions under the Antiquities Act of 1906?
Antiquities Act of 1906, U.S. law passed to protect important cultural, scientific, and natural resources on federal lands for the benefit of the American public. The act gives the U.S. president authority to designate national monuments on federal land or water resources that contain “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest.” Although it is considered among the nation’s most important conservation tools, the Antiquities Act has also frequently been the subject of criticism and legal action.
History
The Antiquities Act was signed into law in 1906 by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in response to the destruction and looting of archaeological sites that had occurred as the American population expanded westward in the late 19th century. The idea for federal oversight of these sites had been promoted by conservation-minded groups. It was fought by business interests, state legislatures, and members of Congress, who argued that the legislation would give too much power to the executive branch. After years of congressional infighting and inaction on the matter, Congress passed the act, and Roosevelt signed it into law on June 8, 1906.
Although Congress also has the authority to designate national monuments on federal or nonfederal land, its process tends to be slow and deliberative. The Antiquities Act, in contrast, allows a president to act quickly to protect federal land deemed significant and in imminent danger. Interest groups and lawmakers have said that such concentrated presidential power is overly broad. Multiple lawsuits and legislative efforts have challenged the president’s authority under the law, whose critics have sought greater input and approval rights for states, Congress, and the public. So far, the clear terms of the law have withstood challenge. The Antiquities Act has been amended twice—in 1950 and 1980—as a result of state and congressional anger over the establishment of national monuments in Wyoming and Alaska, respectively. The amendments require that any new monument in Wyoming and any monument of more than 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) in Alaska must first receive congressional approval.
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Establishment of national monuments
In 1906 Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower in Wyoming the country’s first national monument, which was followed by 17 more in the next three years. He thus designated more national monuments than any other president. The Antiquities Act has been used by every president except Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush to either establish or enlarge monuments on both land and water. National monuments designated under the act are managed by various federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Park Service. These entities establish rules and issue permits regarding both leisure and commercial activities within their respective monuments.
National monuments range widely in size, but most measure a few hundred to a few thousand acres. The largest sites are marine monuments, the biggest being Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, at 582,578 square miles (1,508,870 square km). Other notable protected areas established under the act include Muir Woods National Monument in northern California, the Statue of Liberty off New York City, Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument in Washington, D.C., and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In addition, more than two dozen of the country’s national parks began as national monuments. Examples are Grand Canyon National Park (established as a monument in 1908) in northwestern Arizona, Acadia National Park (1916) in Maine, Joshua Tree National Park (1936) in southern California, Grand Teton National Park (1943) in northwestern Wyoming, and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park (2013) in Maryland.
Legal challenges
Although presidents have frequently used the Antiquities Act to establish or expand national monuments, some have used the law to diminish them. One of the most prominent reductions occurred in 2017, when Pres. Donald Trump shrank two sites in Utah (Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante national monuments) by about 2,000,000 acres (about 809,400 hectares), the first size reduction by a president since the administration of Pres. John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s and the largest rollback of federal land protections in the country’s history. The move was challenged legally, on the theory that the law does not expressly allow presidents to reduce a monument’s size. That suit was not decided before Joe Biden became president in 2021; he restored the monuments’ original boundaries, and the lawsuit was paused. At the start of Trump’s second term, in 2025, Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced plans to review the boundaries of all “withdrawn lands,” including those designated under the Antiquities Act, with an eye toward possibly redrawing or abolishing some monuments to increase energy production on federal land.
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