HISTORY CAMBRIDGE AS - PAPER 2MODULE 1871-1918PRESENTATION 17

USA AND THE PANAMA CANAL

1903-1914

PRESENTATION BASED ON"Panama Canal Traffic—Years 1914–2010". Panama Canal Authority

"Seven Wonders". American Society of Civil Engineers

"A History of the Panama Canal: French and American Construction Efforts". Panama Canal Authority. Chapter 3, Some Early Canal Plans

James Rodger Fleming (1990). Meteorology in America, 1800–1870

Livingstone, Grace (2009). America's backyard : the United States and Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to the war on terror

"About ACP - PanCanal.com". Panama Canal Authority. Retrieved 27/09/2016

Cullen, Bob (March 2004). "Panama Rises". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/panama-canal

“"One had only to look at the map to see that Panama was the proper place for the canal. The route was already well established, there was a railroad, there were thriving cities at each end. Only at Panama could a

sea-level canal be built. It was really no great issue at all. Naturally there were problems. There were always problems. There had been large,

formidable problems at Suez, and to many respected authorities they too had seemed insurmountable. But as time passed, as the work moved

ahead at Suez, indeed as difficulties increased, men of genius had come forth to meet and conquer those difficulties. The same would happen again. For every challenge there would be a man of genius capable of

meeting and conquering it. One must trust to inspiration. As for the money, there was money aplenty in France just waiting for the opening of

the subscription books."David McCullough

SS Ancon passing through the canal on 15 August 1914, the first ship to do so

OVERVIEW• President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term

United States goal—a trans-isthmian canal. • Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen

wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Roosevelt on a digging machine during construction of the Panama Canal, circa 1908. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

NEGOTIATIONS USA-GREAT BRITAIN• To that end, in 1850 the United States and Great Britain negotiated the

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty to reign in rivalry over a proposed canal through the Central American Republic of Nicaragua.

• The Anglo-American canal, however, never went beyond the planning stages.

The U.S.'s intentions to influence the area (especially the Panama Canal construction and control) led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS• French attempts to build a canal through Panama (province of

Colombia) advanced further. • Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps—the builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt—

the French began excavating in 1880. • Malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases conspired against the

de Lesseps campaign and after 9 years and a loss of approximately 20,000 lives, the French attempt went bankrupt.

Ferdinand de Lesseps

Excavator at work, in Bas Obispo, 1886

AMERICAN INTEREST IN THE CANAL• In spite of such setbacks, American interest in a canal continued

unabated. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 abrogated the earlier Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and licensed the United States to build and manage its own canal.

• Following heated debate over the location of the proposed canal, on June 19, 1902, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of building the canal through Panama.

• Within 6 months, Secretary of State John Hay signed a treaty with Colombian Foreign Minister Tomás Herrán to build the new canal.

• The financial terms were unacceptable to Colombia’s congress, and it rejected the offer.

Construction of locks on the Panama Canal, 1913

TENSIONS USA-COLOMBIA• President Roosevelt responded by dispatching U.S. warships to Panama

City (on the Pacific) and Colón (on the Atlantic) in support of Panamanian independence.

• Colombian troops were unable to negotiate the jungles of the Darien Strait and Panama declared independence on November 3, 1903.

President Theodore Roosevelt sitting on a steam shovel at Culebra Cut, 1906

Spanish labourers working on the Panama Canal in early 1900s

HAY-BUNAU-VARILLA TREATY 1903• In his new role, Bunau-Varilla negotiated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of

1903, which provided the United States with a 10-mile wide strip of land for the canal, a one-time $10 million payment to Panama, and an annual annuity of $250,000.

• The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama.

A Marion steam shovel excavating the Panama Canal in 1908

The Panama Canal locks under construction in 1910

1914 PANAMA CANAL COMPLETED• Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal symbolized U.S. technological

prowess and economic power. • Although U.S. control of the canal eventually became an irritant to U.S.-

Panamanian relations, at the time it was heralded as a major foreign policy achievement.