Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cedar_Breaks_Panorama_1.jpg LeavXC
National Monuments are area protected by executive order of the President of the United States, or by legislation of the United States Congress. They are sites which the president has proclaimed as being historic landmarks, historic and/or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest, in accordance to the Antiquities Act of 1906. Unlike national parks, the president can quickly declare a site to be a United States National Monument without getting the approval of Congress. On the other hand it receives less funding and afford fewer protection than national parks.
The history of designating a site as a National Monument goes back to 1906, when President Theodore Roosevelt established Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first such entity in the face of an unconcerned Congress. He felt that Congress was moving too slowly and Devils Tower would be destroyed before it became a national park.
Within his term of office, Roosevelt designated 18 national monuments, though only nine still retain the designation. In addition, fifteen other presidents have also created national monuments - only Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush have not. Bill Clinton created the most, nineteen, and expanded on three existing ones.
As of 1 January, 2011, there are 100 National Monuments of the United States of America. They are listed below, along with the date of their formation:
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.