greater overseas influence. The year 1898
made the United States a two-ocean
power, with territories in the Caribbean
Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The latter
included not only the Philippines and
Guam but also Hawaii, annexed separate-
ly in the same year as the Spanish-
American War.
Nowhere was expanding American
influence felt more strongly than in Latin
America. Ever since the drafting of the
Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United
States had viewed itself as having the right
to prevent expansion of European power
in the Western hemisphere. President
Theodore Roosevelt took this doctrine
one step further. As an army volunteer,
Roosevelt had helped establish American
control of Cuba through his heroics in the
Spanish-American War. In 1904
Roosevelt set out what became known as
the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine: that the United States had the
right and duty to exercise “international
police power” in Latin America, interven-
ing at its discretion to correct “flagrant
cases” of “chronic wrongdoing” or polit-
ical impotence “which results in a gener-
al loosening of ties of civilized society.”
This policy established an official ration-
ale for expansion of U.S. power in Latin
America. It became known as the “big
stick” policy after an adage that Roosevelt
liked to quote: “Speak softly and carry a
big stick; you will go far.” The U.S. Navy,
able to carry guns and troops anywhere in
the world, was the “big stick.”
Prior to articulating the Roosevelt
Corollary, Roosevelt had already acted in
its spirit in Panama, which at the turn of
the 20th century was still part of the South
American nation of Columbia. The
United States and other countries had
long been interested in digging a canal
across Central America to provide a short
sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The addition of overseas possessions in
both oceans made the building of such a
canal even more urgent. In 1901 the Hay-
Pauncefote Treaty between the United
States and Britain gave the former nation
free rein to build and regulate a canal
across the Isthmus of Panama, provided
that the zone remain neutral and open on
equal terms to other nations’ shipping.
The government of Colombia agreed in
subsequent negotiations to grant use of the
necessary strip of land, but the Colombian
senate refused to ratify the agreement.
Roosevelt’s solution in 1903 was to
encourage and support militarily a
revolution in Panama against Colombia.
The revolt was led by the canal’s chief
engineer.
That year the United States and the
newly independent nation of Panama
signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty,
which gave the United States rights in per-
petuity over the canal and a Canal Zone on
either side. It also gave the United States
the right to intervene militarily in Panama
to protect order, a right exercised often in
the coming years. Panama received a guar-
antee of its independence and financial
compensation: an initial payment of $10
million and an annuity of $250,000 that
began in 1913 and was later raised.
A marvel of engineering that stretch-
es 51 miles (82 kilometers), the canal was
completed in 1914. Completion required
the virtual eradication of malaria and yel-
low fever in the canal area and the excava-
tion of an estimated 175 million cubic
yards (143 million cubic meters) of earth.
The political marvel was almost as great:
an entire country was created principallyA TIME OF TRANSITION 129The Panama Canal Zone