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July 6th 2013
03.02 U.S. Territorial Expansion:
Assignment
Storybook: Building
of the Panama Canal
The long journey on March 12, 1898, of the
battleship USS Oregon leaving California and
heading toward Cuba convinced many
Americans of the strategic importance of
building a canal across Central America to
connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This
would help militarily, and it would speed cargo
shipping and increase global trade. Two routes
had been considered, one across Nicaragua and
one across Panama, which was part of
Colombia.
Page 1
The first attempt to build a canal was by
a French company in 1881, when the Colombian
government offered the right to build a canal in
Panama to a company led by Ferdinand de
Lesseps. Construction began on the canal but
met failure after failure because De Lesseps was
not prepared for the rough terrain or the
tropical climate. Foreign workers also
demanded more money than the company was
prepared to offer and the project eventually went
bankrupt.
Page 2
Many Americans, including Theodore
Roosevelt strongly supported the building of a
canal and Roosevelt had strong public
support. Roosevelt believed that the United
States needed a strong presence in Latin
America. In 1902, the U.S. Congress passed
the Spooner Act, which approved the purchase
of the French company's assets and the
building of the canal.
Page 3
As many as 40,000 people worked on the canal at
once. Canal builders were faced with the tropical
diseases, yellow fever and malaria. William C.
Gorgas and other doctors worked swiftly to ensure
that the workers hired by the United States did not
suffer the same fate as the French workers. They
eliminated the mosquitoes that carried the diseases
and made it a much safer place to work. In spite of
their efforts, during the canal's construction more
than 5,000 workers died both from both diseases
and accidents. The French project had lost 20,000.
Page 4
Once the construction was finished, the United States
had a 40-mile passageway that cut out 8,000 naval
miles of travel between the west and east coasts of
the United States. The United States also increased
an already strong presence in Latin America. It now
completely controlled the Panama Canal Zone and
had military troops stationed there to guard it.
The Panama Canal officially opened to
shipping in August 1914. Today, complete control
and governance of the canal belongs to Panama. The
canal is one of the most important human-made
waterways in the world and serves as the main route
for trade between the eastern United States and Asia.
Page 5
Citations: Module 3 – Lesson 02, FLVS