By the time Roosevelt was a student at Harvard, he was an accomplished naturalist, published ornithologist, and editor of The Harvard Advocate. While at Harvard and after graduation, Roosevelt wrote a book on the role of the U.S. Navy in the War of 1812. The book was highly praised and established Roosevelt as a serious historian. U.S. #830 from the popular Presidential Series. In 1881 Roosevelt was elected to the New York Assembly and quickly became a major figure in state politics and a “rising star” in the Republican Party. He served three terms, writing more bills than any other New York State legislator. A fallout during the 1884 Republican National Convention disillusioned him to party politics and he decided to retire to his ranch in the Badlands in the Dakota Territory.