Roosevelt and Latin America

Disease

➲ Yellow Fever killed as many as 85 % of the people infected with it in Cuba.

➲ This posed a great dilemma for America as order was trying to be established in Latin America after the Spanish American War.

➲ Cuban Doctor Juan Finlay believed that Mosquitoes spread this disease and American Army Doctors proved this to be scientifically true.

Yellow Fever

➲ Mosquitos are naturally attracted to standing water.

➲ U.S. Army Doctor William C. Gorgas realized this and made a plan to drain all pools of standing water.

➲ Six months later, yellow fever was virtually eliminated from the city of Havana.

U.S. Control Over Cuba

➲ Leonard Wood, the appointed governor of Cuba, oversaw the drafting of a new Cuban Constitution.

➲ America ignored the Teller Amendment idea and instead created the Platt Amendment- limited Cuba’s ability to sign treaties with other nations and the U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs.

➲ This lead to the creation of a naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Governing Puerto Rico

➲ The U.S. didn’t make P.R. a protectorate, instead it became it became a governed territory like the Philippines.

➲ Foraker Act- The U.S. would appoint Puerto Rico’s governor and upper house of its legislature. Puerto Rican voters would elect the lower house.

➲ 1917- Granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans.

Teddy and the Panama Canal

➲ In the 1880s, the French company began creating a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, but went bankrupt.

➲ In 1902, the U.S. bought the rights to the French canal property and equipment.

Teddy and the Panama Canal

➲ Panamanian revolutionaries were plotting to break free of Colombian rule.

➲ Roosevelt support the rebellion.➲ Panama declared its independence and

the U.S. recognized the Republic of Panama.

➲ Soon a treaty gave the U.S. complete and unending sovereignty over a 10 mile wide canal.

Working on the Panama Canal

➲ There was harsh work conditions, not enough workers, and Yellow Fever was still a problem in Panama.

➲ After 1 month of work, nearly all U.S. construction workers had malaria.

➲ Dr. William C. Gorgas comes again and helps limit the cases of malaria and Yellow Fever.

Malaria

➲ Sanitation workers drained swamps, cleared vegetation, spread oil on polls of standing water, and bred spiders and lizards…..Why?

➲ By 1914, work had been successful and the S.S. Ancon became the first ship to pass officially through the Panama Canal.

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The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

➲ The Monroe Doctrine proclaimed that the Western Hemisphere was off limits to further colonization by European nations.

➲ Roosevelt Corollary to the M.D.- “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”