John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt, Essay Example

In 1838, John Muir was born in Scotalnd. In February 1849, ten-year-old John sailed with his father, a brother, and a sister across the Atlantic ocean to America. John’s father heard that there was good farmland in a new state called Wisconsin. John T. Battalio (159) suggests that Muir attuned to natural history themes would be related readily to the concerns of environmentalists, particularly since his discourse entitled The American Forests functioned in the natural history world. He questioned the ultimate value of scientific research in improving life would be directed away from science as a means of satisfying desires for natural study.

Muir’s personal example leads his readership to be aware of choices crucial to its influence on evolution. If, for example, logging reduced the number of tree species in America, the future evolution of American forests was limited to its development. When Muir noted that the logging of watersheds, for instance, was having a disastrous effect on water conservation in California, his was a post-pastoral concern for the future of the human species in that dry land as much as it was for the evolution of American forests.

Theodore Roosevelt was born on 1858 in New York City. No one thought the sickly boy would become president one day. Young “Teddy” worked hard to make himself strong. Later, he made the United States strong. He saw an opportunity for the government to play the role of caretaker in the lives of the nation’s poor.

Roosevelt’s radical (at least for his time) ideas went on to contain the redistribution of wealth.  He claimed to “grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used.”  However, Roosevelt’s Progressive colors come out somewhat more visibly when he says that the government should only permit a fortune to be “gained…as long as the gaining represents benefit to the community” (Roosevelt).

The bravado of the American Empire in the early 1900’s would not fade over the century. However, the idealistic visions of man like Roosevelt would take the form of such innovations as the New Deal, Social Security, and the welfare system. While the material standards of living for the entire country were raised, the large gap between rich and poor remained.  So while some of their basic goals for human dignity were met, the idea of creating a more equitable America still remains elusive.

Works Cited

Battalio, John J. The Rhetoric of science in the evolution of American ornithological discourse. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998.

Roosevelt, T. The New Nationalism.  Online, 1910.