Term paper on Panama Canal

Panama Canal

A long-standing desire for an inter-oceanic canal accelerated when the United States expanded its territories and interests in the Pacific at the end of the nineteenth century. Two treaties with Great Britain gave the United States the exclusive right to build and fortify such a canal, and Panama , a province of Colombia , was selected over Nicaragua as the site. Colombia refused to ratify the necessary treaty, but Panamanians, with the approval and connivance of President Theodore Roosevelt, successfully rebelled in late 1903 and negotiated the treaty that the United States had sought. An extraordinary feat of engineering, the Panama Canal opened to commercial traffic in 1914.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Why was the United States interested in an interoceanic canal, and why did it choose Panama as its site?

2. Analyze President Roosevelt ‘s role in the acquisition of the canal.

3. Discuss the difficulties facing the builders of the canal.

4. Explain the long-range consequences of American acquisition and ownership of the canal on Panama .

5. Discuss the effects the canal had on U.S. military and strategic policies.

Suggested Sources : See entry 90 for related items.

GENERAL SOURCES

Collin, Richard H. Theodore Roosevelt’s Caribbean: The Panama Canal, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Latin American Context . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 1990. Thought-provoking examination of Roosevelt ‘s Latin American policies.

Lael, Richard L. Arrogant Diplomacy: U.S. Policy toward Colombia , 1903–1922 . Wilmington , DE : Scholarly Resources, 1987. U.S. policy toward Colombia during and after the Panamanian crisis.
SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Building the Canal

McCullough, David G. The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal , 1870–1914 . New York : Simon&Schuster, 1977. A thorough, readable account of early attempts to launch an isthmian canal and of construction in Panama , 1904–1914.

The Canal in American History

Hogan, J. Michael. The Panama Canal in American Politics: Domestic Advocacy and the Evolution of Policy . Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 1986. The canal’s role as an issue in U.S. politics over the decades.

Major, John. Prize Possession: The United States and the Panama Canal, 1903–1979 . New York : Cambridge University Press, 1993. An English author’s perspective on the United States in the Canal Zone .

Richard, Alfred Charles. The Panama Canal in American National Consciousness, 1870–1990 . New York : Garland , 1990. A survey of Americans’ fascination with the possibilities—and the reality—of a canal tying the Atlantic and the Pacific.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Anguizola, Gustave. Philippe Bunau-Varilla: The Man behind the Panama Canal . Chicago : Nelson-Hall, 1980. The Panamanian diplomat who signed the treaty ceding the Canal Zone to the United States .

Gibson, John M. Physician to the World: The Life of General William C. Gorgas . (1955). Reprint ed. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 1989. Life of the army physician who eradicated yellow fever in the Canal Zone , thus making possible the canal’s completion.

Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt . Lawrence , KS : University of Kansas Press, 1991. A useful guide to the literature and issues of Roosevelt ‘s years in the White House. Part of the American Presidency series.

Latham, Jean L. George W. Goethals: Panama Canal Engineer . Broomall , PA : Chelsea House, 1991. Biography of the army engineer who saw the canal through to completion and served as the Canal Zone ‘s first civil governor.

PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Spellman, Robert L. ‘‘Misconceptions and Criminal Prosecutions: Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal Libels.” American Journalism 11: 39–60 (1994). The president’s successful propaganda campaign to make the canal’s story part of the legend of American ingenuity and determination.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

A Man, a Plan, a Canal: Panama . Boston : WGBH Educational Foundation, 1987. Videocassette. 58-minute special on the construction of the canal.

Panama Canal . New York : A&E Home Video, 1995. Videocassette. 58-minute documentary that uses nineteenth-and early twentieth-century photographs and archival films.

TR and His Times . Santa Monica , CA : PBS Home Video, 1988. Videocassette. 58-minute discussion of Roosevelt and the era he shaped by Bill Moyers and biographer David McCullough.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Buschini, J. ‘‘The Panama Canal .” Small Planet. 1996. http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/joining.html Brief description of the construction of the canal as part of Roosevelt ‘s plans to revitalize the navy. Array of interesting and relevant links, such as a movie of President McKinley and the Roosevelt Papers in the Library of Congress. Good pictures of canal construction.