Panama Canal Did President Roosevelt 'Steal' the Canal or Obtain It Fairly? Library of Congress The issue

Critics, on the other hand, accused the U.S. of supporting the rebels, or perhaps even helping to plan the revolt, with the goal of negotiating a canal treaty with the new Panamanian government. That was proved by the fact that the U.S. sent warships to Panama even before the revolt officially began, critics maintained. The U.S.'s actions violated an 1846 treaty the U.S. had signed with Colombia, in which the U.S. pledged to help Colombia uphold its sovereignty , they said. In fact, critics asserted, the U.S. actions amounted to a declaration of war against Colombia, which further compounded Roosevelt's wrongdoings by violating Congress's exclusive right to declare war.

Early Visions of a Central American Canal

Nations had looked for a way to cross Central America since 1513, when Spanishexplorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus and became the first European explorer to reach the New World shores of the Pacific Ocean. Spain colonized Latin America in the early 16th century, and as Spanish trade in both Latin America and the Pacific began to increase so too did Spain's desire to build a canal across the isthmus.

In 1534, King Charles of Spain ordered a survey to determine whether a canal could be built across Central America. The surveyors reported that it would be impossible to dig a canal through the isthmus's tall mountains and dense forests. At the end of the century, Spain again sent a survey team to Central America, and once again the team declared that it would be impossible to build a canal.

Two centuries later, Spanish interest in building a canal was revived. However, Spain's dreams of building a canal ended as several revolutionary movements aimed at expelling Spain from Latin America emerged in the early 19th century. Colombia declared its independence from Spain in 1819, and Panama did so in 1821. After shaking off Spain, Panama chose to remain a Colombian province (known as a department); together the two formed what was known as New Granada.

The U.S. became interested in building a canal in Central America during the mid-1800s, as Americans began to move westward in increasing numbers, fulfilling their "manifest destiny" to extend the nation to the Pacific Ocean. Settlers traveling from the U.S.'s East Coast to its West Coast had three options: cross the U.S. by wagon train; travel by ship around the tip of South America; or sail to Panama's east coast, cross Panama on a railroad that U.S. businessmen had built and board a ship on the western side. [See Manifest Destiny]

Congress began to consider bills to finance a Central American canal, which would greatly reduce travel time, but such a venture was initially seen as too costly to be practical. However, recognizing the importance of travel across Panama, in 1846 the U.S. negotiated the Bidlack Treaty with Colombia guaranteeing the U.S. the right of transit across the isthmus. In return, the U.S. guaranteed Colombia's sovereignty over Panama, and agreed to help defend it against foreign intruders. [See Bidlack Treaty between the U.S. and Colombia (1846) (primary document)]

The U.S. Senate ratified the Bidlack Treaty in 1848, the year gold was discovered inCalifornia; in the ensuing "gold rush," unprecedented numbers of Americans crossed Panama en route to the West Coast. Sensing an ever-growing need for a means of crossing the isthmus of Panama by ship, and seeing that there would be enough passengers to make such an undertaking profitable, Congress began to consider a canal more seriously. [See California Gold Rush]

At the same time, Great Britain also began to consider building a canal across Nicaragua, a prospect that upset some Americans. In 1823, President James Monroe(Democratic Republican, 1817-25) had issued the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that the Western Hemisphere was closed to European colonization. American opponents of a British canal in Central America argued that it would violate that doctrine; the U.S. must build the canal, they insisted. [See Monroe Doctrine]

To ensure that the U.S. would be involved in any canal venture, the U.S. negotiated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with Britain in 1850. The treaty provided for a joint U.S.-British canal in Central America, and agreed that any canal would not be fortified militarily. The canal would also be neutral, open to all nations, and neither the U.S. nor Britain would take exclusive control of the canal.

In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant (R, 1869-77) ordered surveys of possible canal sites across Central America and Mexico. The following decade, a commission recommended Nicaragua. Nicaragua was hundreds of miles closer to the U.S. than Panama, had lower mountain passes to dig through and had several lakes that would reduce the digging needed to build the canal. Nicaragua also had less swampy ground than Panama, which meant that it had fewer disease-carrying mosquitoes.

France, U.S. Seek to Build Panama Canal

As U.S. plans to build a Central American canal slowly progressed, France was negotiating with Colombia for the right to build a canal across Panama. Because Panama was narrower than Nicaragua, in theory it would be quicker and less expensive to build a canal across Panama. In 1878, a French company signed an agreement with Colombia to build a sea-level canal (in which a channel would be dug across Panama and would be filled with water from both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea). Under the agreement, the canal would be turned over to Colombia after 99 years.

Because of heavy rains in Panama, landslides were a constant threat during the construction of the Panama Canal.

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