Is the Panama Canal American territory?
United States territorial acquisitions
The Panama Canal Zone was an unorganized US territory located within the Republic of Panama. It was established under the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty in 1903 and disestablished in 1979 under the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. Panama gained full control over the Panama Canal in 1999.
History of Panama
On September 7, 1977, the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were signed by the Panamanian head of state Omar Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter for the complete transfer of the Canal and the 14 US army bases from the US to Panama by 1999. These treaties also granted the US a perpetual right of military intervention. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the intervening years.
Panama Canal
Numerous canals were built in other countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The success of the Erie Canal in the United States in the 1820s and the collapse of the Spanish Empire in Latin America led to a surge of American interest in building an inter-oceanic canal. Beginning in 1826, US officials began negotiations with Gran Colombia (present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama), hoping to gain a concession for the building of a canal. Jealous of their newly obtained independence and fearing that they would be dominated by an American presence, the president Simón Bolívar and New Granada officials declined American offers. The new nation was politically unstable, and Panama rebelled several times during the 19th century.
Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone
The Republic of Panama was formally part of Colombia, and after it broke away from Colombia, with assistance from the United States, it established itself as a separate nation where it immediately became necessary to establish its own post offices and issue its own postage stamps. The Canal Zone Post Office was inaugurated on June 25, 1904. Beforehand the domestic rates of postage in the United States were made applicable to all possessions of the United States on June 20, 1904, which henceforth included the Canal Zone.
United States nationality law
The law contains one other section of historical note, concerning the Panama Canal Zone and the nation of Panama. In , the law states that anyone born in the Canal Zone or in Panama itself, on or after February 26, 1904, to a mother or father who is a United States citizen, was "declared" to be a United States citizen at birth.
Panama Canal
At this time, the President and the Senate of the United States were interested in establishing a canal across the isthmus, with some favoring a canal across Nicaragua and others advocating the purchase of the French interests in Panama. Bunau-Varilla, who was seeking American involvement, asked for $100 million, but accepted $40 million in the face of the Nicaraguan option. In June 1902, the US Senate voted in favor of the Spooner Act, to pursue the Panamanian option, provided the necessary rights could be obtained.
History of the Panama Canal
The United States took control of the French property connected to the canal on May 4, 1904, when Lieutenant Jatara Oneel of the United States Army was presented with the keys during a small ceremony. The new Panama Canal Zone Control was overseen by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) during construction.
List of former United States military installations in Panama
In 1903, the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed between Panama and the United States. It created the Panama Canal Zone as a U.S. governed region, and allowed the U.S. to build the Panama Canal. In 1977, the "Panama Canal Treaty" (also called "Torrijos–Carter Treaties") was signed by Commander of Panama's National Guard, General Omar Torrijos and U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Over time, it would replace and absolve the 1903 treaty.
Panama Canal Zone
The treaty with Panama made no mention of the nationality status of the native inhabitants of the Zone. Pursuant to the principles of international law, they became non-citizen U.S. nationals unless they elected to retain their previous nationality. Children of non-citizen U.S. nationals generally acquired the status of their parents. However, for most nationality purposes, the Canal Zone was considered to be foreign territory and the status persons acquired at birth was governed by the Naturalization Act of 1795, which granted them statutory US citizenship at birth but only if their fathers were, at the time of the child's birth, U.S. citizens who had previously resided in the United States. In 1934 the law was amended to allow for citizenship to be acquired at birth through either parent if the parent was a U.S. citizen who had previously resided in the United States. In 1937 the law was further amended to provide for US citizenship to persons born in the Canal Zone (since 1904) to a U.S. citizen parent without that parent needing to have been previously resident in the United States. The law is now codified under title 8, section 1403. It not only grants statutory and declaratory born citizenship to those born in the Canal Zone after February 26, 1904, of at least one US citizen parent, but also does so retroactively for all children born of at least one US citizen in the Canal Zone before the law's enactment. This rule was later rendered moot when the rules were changed to state that (almost all) children born to U.S. citizens anywhere in the world were considered U.S citizens.
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
This treaty was a source of conflict between Panama and the United States since its creation. The Canal Zone became a racially and socially segregated area, set aside from the country of Panama. The push for environmental determinism seemed to be the best framework to justify American practices in Panama. The conflict from the treaty reached its peak on January 9, 1964, with riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone. The riot started after a Panamanian flag was torn during conflict between Panamanian students and Canal Zone Police officers, over the right of the Panamanian flag to be flown alongside the U.S. flag. U.S. Army units became involved in suppressing the violence after the Canal Zone Police were overwhelmed. After three days of fighting, about 22 Panamanians and four U.S. soldiers were killed. This day is known in Panama as Martyrs' Day.
Zonian
A Zonian is a person associated with the Panama Canal Zone, a political entity which existed between 1903 and the absorption of the Canal Zone into the Republic of Panama between 1980 and 2000. Many Zonians are descendants of the civilian American workers who came to the area during the early 1900s to work and maintain the canal. Today Zonians might work at the canal itself. Others may have been American citizens born in the Canal Zone or who spent their childhood there. A significant presence of American canal workers remained in the Canal region until 1999.
Panama Canal
President Roosevelt famously stated, "I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me." Several parties in the United States called this an act of war on Colombia: The "New York Times" described the support given by the United States to Bunau-Varilla as an "act of sordid conquest." The "New York Evening Post" called it a "vulgar and mercenary venture." The US maneuvers are often cited as the classic example of US gunboat diplomacy in Latin America, and the best illustration of what Roosevelt meant by the old African adage, "Speak softly and carry a big stick [and] you will go far." After the revolution in 1903, the Republic of Panama became a US protectorate until 1939.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
Throughout the period of turmoil, the United States had retained its interest in building a canal through either Nicaragua or Panama. An obstacle to this goal was overcome in December 1901 when the United States and Britain signed the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty. This treaty nullified the provisions of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850 and signified British acceptance of a canal constructed solely by or under the auspices of the United States with guarantees of neutrality.
United States involvement in regime change
In 1903, the U.S. aided the secession of Panama from the Republic of Colombia. The secession was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French–US corporation whose aim was the construction of a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama thus connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1903, the U.S. signed the Hay-Herrán Treaty with Colombia, granting the United States use of the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for financial compensation. amidst the Thousand Days' War. The Panama Canal was already under construction, and the Panama Canal Zone was carved out and placed under United States sovereignty. The US did not transfer the zone back to Panama until 2000.
Cristóbal, Colón
In 1904, after Panama's US-backed declaration of independence from Colombia, the Canal Commission set up its provisional headquarters in Cristóbal. By then, the United States had purchased the French Canal enterprise's assets in Panama and had secured use and control of the Canal Zone "in perpetuity." The Panama Railroad's assets also came under Canal Zone control, and its facilities became part of the Canal Zone town of Cristóbal.
Panama
Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties led to the transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama on December 31, 1999.
Dennis DeConcini
DeConcini sponsored an amendment (the DeConcini Reservation) to the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 which allows the United States "to take such steps as each [the U.S. or Panama] deems necessary, in accordance with its constitutional processes, including the use of military force in the Republic of Panama, to reopen the Canal or restore the operations of the Canal, as the case may be."
Panama Canal Zone
In 2008, during a minor controversy over whether Canal Zone–born John McCain, born in the Zone in 1936, was legally eligible for the presidency, the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution that McCain was a "natural born Citizen" of the United States.
Panama
A project to build a third set of locks for the Panama Canal A was overwhelmingly approved in a referendum (with low voter turnout, however) on October 22, 2006. The official estimated cost of the project is US$5.25 billion, but the canal is of major economic importance because it provides millions of dollars of toll revenue to the national economy and provides massive employment. Transfer of control of the Canal to the Panamanian government completed in 1999, after 85 years of US control.
United States invasion of Panama
The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause occurred between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were ratified to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the U.S. to Panama by 1 January 2000.
Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone
The Canal Zone was a strip of territory long and wide across the Isthmus of Panama, and was ceded to the United States for the purpose of constructing and operating the canal which connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Upon the establishment of the Canal Zone in 1903, seventeen Post Offices had also been established and were operated by the U.S. Government. The Canal Zone and its post offices, with the main distributing office in Cristobal, operated as an independent government agency under the direct authority of the President of the United States. In the towns where there were railroad stations, the station agents of the Panama Railroad functioned as postmasters. Along with ships and freight, domestic mail and mail from around the world moved through the canal. The Canal Zone Post Office began operating and issued its first postage stamps on June 24, 1904. Initially these were the current stamps of Panama or (less often) the U.S., overprinted with 'CANAL ZONE' in various styles. Philatelists have identified over 100 varieties, some of them quite rare (and counterfeited).
History of the Panama Canal
Theodore Roosevelt believed that a US-controlled canal across Central America was a vital strategic interest of the country. This idea gained wide circulation after the destruction of the USS "Maine" in Cuba on February 15, 1898. Reversing a Walker Commission decision in favor of a Nicaraguan canal, Roosevelt encouraged the acquisition of the French Panama Canal effort. George S. Morison was the only commission member who argued for the Panama location. The purchase of the French-held land for $40 million was authorized by the June 28, 1902 Spooner Act. Since Panama was then part of Colombia, Roosevelt began negotiating with that country to obtain the necessary rights. In early 1903 the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Senate of Colombia failed to ratify the treaty.
Panama Canal
In 1846, the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, negotiated between the US and New Granada, granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus. In 1848, the discovery of gold in California, on the West Coast of the United States, created great interest in a crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. William H. Aspinwall, the man who won the federal subsidy for the building and operating the Pacific mail steamships at around the same time, benefited from this discovery. Aspinwall's route included steamship legs from New York City to Panama and from Panama to California, with an overland portage through Panama. The route between California and Panama was soon frequently traveled, as it provided one of the fastest links between San Francisco, California, and the East Coast cities, about 40 days' transit in total. Nearly all the gold that was shipped out of California went by the fast Panama route. Several new and larger paddle steamers were soon plying this new route, including unsubsidized steamship lines owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt that required an overland route through Nicaragua.
Territories of the United States on stamps
The U.S. Postal Department also used general issue stamps with the territorial name overprinted, such as PUERTO RICO, CUBA, GUAM, PHILIPPINES or CANAL ZONE. Cuba was granted independence, Canal Zone returned to Panama. 
Alternatively, the U.S. issued a 1932 'United States of America' stamp for 18 centavos in the Philippines, 1930 stamps for use in Guam only designated 'Guam Guard Mail, or 1952 'Ryukyus' stamp for 100 yen in Okinawa. The Philippines was granted independence, the Ryukyus were returned to Japan. 
Panama Canal has been featured on several U. S. commemorative stamps, as well as on Panama's own postage. The territory was returned to Panama.
History of Panama (1977–present)
At the same ceremony in Washington, representatives of the United States and Panama signed a series of fourteen executive agreements associated with the treaties. These included two Agreements in Implementation of Articles III and IV of the Panama Canal Treaty that detailed provisions concerning operation, management, protection, and defense, outlined in the main treaty. Most importantly, these two agreements defined the areas to be held by the United States until 2000 to operate and defend the canal. These areas were distinguished from military areas to be used jointly by the United States and Panama until that time, military areas to be held initially by the United States but turned over to Panama before 2000, and areas that were turned over to Panama on October 1, 1979.
Panama
In 1914 the United States completed the existing canal.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
Naval operations during the Spanish–American War (1898–1901) served to convince U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt that the United States needed to control a canal somewhere in the Western Hemisphere. This interest culminated in the Spooner Bill of June 29, 1902, providing for a canal through the isthmus of Panama, and the Hay–Herrán Treaty of January 22, 1903, under which Colombia gave consent to such a project in the form of a 100-year lease on an area 10 kilometers wide. This treaty, however, was not ratified in Bogotá, and the United States, determined to construct a canal across the isthmus, intensively encouraged the Panamanian separatist movement.
Panama Canal Zone
Through the remainder of the 19th century, the United States landed troops several times to preserve the railway connection. At the same time, it pursued a canal treaty with Colombia (as New Granada was renamed). One treaty, signed in 1868, was rejected by the Colombian Senate, which hoped for better terms from the incoming Grant administration. Under this treaty, the canal would have been in the middle of a 20-mile zone, under American management but Colombian sovereignty, and the canal would revert to Colombia in 99 years. The Grant administration did little to pursue a treaty and, in 1878, the concession to build the canal fell to a French firm. The French efforts eventually failed, but with Panama apparently unavailable, the United States considered possible canal sites in Mexico and Nicaragua.
History of Panama
The Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases were turned over to Panama on December 31, 1999 in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
William B. Van Ingen
The Panama Canal murals were executed on nearly of canvas and depict the excavation of the canal. They are mounted in the Panama Canal Administration Building in Balboa, Panama. Van Ingen agreed to produce the murals at $25 per square foot. The paintings are apparently the largest group of murals by an American artist on display outside the United States .
Territories of the United States on stamps
The Panama Canal opening was commemorated on its 25th anniversary with a 3-cent stamp issued on August 15, 1939. The stamp shows a steamship passing through the Gaillard Cut, President Theodore Roosevelt on the left promoted the canal and General George W. Goethals on the right was chief engineer and first governor of the Panama Zone.
History of Panama (1977–present)
Under the provisions of Article XII, the United States and Panama agreed to study jointly the feasibility of a sea-level canal and, if deemed necessary, to negotiate terms for its construction. Payments to Panama from the commission ("a just and equitable return on the national resources which it has dedicated to the . . . canal") were set forth in Article XIII. These included a fixed annuity of US$10 million, an annual contingency payment of up to US$10 million to be paid out of any commission profits, and US$0.30 per Panama Canal net ton of cargo that passed through the canal, paid out of canal tolls. The latter figure was to be periodically adjusted for inflation and was expected to net Panama between US$40 and US$70 million annually during the life of the treaty. In addition, Article III stipulated that Panama would receive a further US$10 million annually for services (police, fire protection, street cleaning, traffic management, and garbage collection) it would provide in the canal operating areas.
Ancón, Panama
During the years when the Panama Canal was under the control of the United States, many administrative facilities, military bases, and communities were built in the adjacent areas, forming part of the former Panama Canal Zone. When these areas were reverted to Panama under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, several alternatives were proposed to integrate the district to the city of Panama. The current district of Ancón was created when a new political-administrative division for the reverted areas was adopted, by Act No. 18 of August 29, 1979, and later amended by Law No. 1 of October 27, 1982. The areas located in the Pacific sector became part of this district, while those located on the Atlantic side were incorporated into the district of Cristobal, in the province of Colon. They remain characterized by a strong US urban architectural style.
History of Panama (1977–present)
On September 7, 1977, Carter and Torrijos met in Washington to sign the treaties in a ceremony that also was attended by representatives of twenty-six other nations of the Western Hemisphere. The Panama Canal Treaty, the major document signed on September 7, abrogated the 1903 treaty and all other previous bilateral agreements concerning the canal. The treaty was to enter into force six months after the exchange of instruments of ratification and to expire at noon on December 31, 1999. The Panama Canal Company and the Canal Zone government would cease to operate and Panama would assume complete legal jurisdiction over the former Canal Zone immediately, although the United States would retain jurisdiction over its citizens during a thirty-month transition period. Panama would grant the United States rights to operate, maintain, and manage the canal through a new United States government agency, the Panama Canal Commission. The commission would be supervised by a board of five members from the United States and four from Panama; the ratio was fixed for the duration of the treaty. The commission would have a United States administrator and Panamanian deputy administrator until January 1, 1990, when the nationalities of these two positions would be reversed. Panamanian nationals would constitute a growing number of commission employees in preparation for their assumption of full responsibility in 2000. Another binational body, the Panama Canal Consultative Committee, was created to advise the respective governments on policy matters affecting the canal's operation.
Carlos Ozores
He was among the diplomats of the Panamanian delegation to the Torrijos-Carter Treaties two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which abrogated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903.
United States Southern Command
The Marines protected the Panamanian civilian uprising led by former Panama Canal Company general manager Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla guaranteeing his creation of the Panamanian state. Following the signing of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty granting control of the Panama Canal Zone to the United States, the Marines remained to provide security during the early construction days of the Panama Canal.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
The Republic of Panama became a de facto protectorate of the larger country through two provisions whereby the United States guaranteed the independence of Panama and received in return the right to intervene in Panama's domestic affairs. For the rights it obtained, the United States was to pay the sum of US$10 million and an annuity, beginning 9 years after ratification, of US$250,000 in gold coin. The United States also purchased the rights and properties of the French canal company for US $40 million.
Mexico–Panama relations
During the 1970s, Mexico became a vocal supporter for dialogue between Panama and the United States for eventual Panamanian control of the Panama Canal. In 1977, Panama and the United States signed the Torrijos–Carter Treaties giving Panama eventual control of the canal in December 1999. During the 1980s, foreign ministers of Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela created the Contadora Group in order to diplomatically try to resolve the crisis facing many Central American nations at the time.
History of the Panama Canal
After construction, the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it were administered by the United States. On September 7, 1977, US President Jimmy Carter signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaty setting in motion the process of transferring control of the canal to Panama. The treaty became effective on October 1, 1979, providing for a 20-year period in which Panama would have increasing responsibility for canal operations before complete US withdrawal on December 31, 1999. Since then, the canal has been administered by the Panama Canal Authority (Autoridad de Canal de Panama, or ACP).
Philippe Bunau-Varilla
Bunau-Varilla, as Panama's ambassador to the United States, was invested with plenipotentiary powers by President Manuel Amador. Lacking formal consent of the government of Panama, he entered into negotiations with the American Secretary of State, John Hay, to give control of the Panama Canal area to the U.S. No Panamanians signed the resulting Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, though it was ratified in Panama on December 2, 1903. Bunau-Varilla had received his ambassadorship through financial assistance to the rebels, he had not lived in Panama for seventeen years, and he never returned, leading to the charge that he was "appointed Minister by cable". Panamanians long resented his betrayed trust put in him by the new Panamanian authorities. The treaty was finally undone by the Torrijos–Carter Treaties in 1977.
Dan Smoot
A subsequent 1964 issue opposed a proposal by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to transfer sovereignty of the Panama Canal to the Republic of Panama. Johnson failed in his attempt, but President Jimmy Carter in 1978, with bipartisan U. S. Senate support led by Moderate Republican Howard Baker of Tennessee, prevailed by a one-vote margin to extend control of the Canal Zone to Panama. It was Moderate Republican support for many Democratic proposals that particularly angered Smoot, who gave up on the national Republican Party as a viable alternative to the majority Democrats of his day.
Panama–United States relations
The United States first attempted to acquire control of a canal on the Panamanian isthmus via the Hay-Herran Treaty of 1903, but the treaty was not ratified. Desperate to construct a canal, the United States saw the separatist movement as an opportunity. Despite the Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty of 1846 in which the United States would intervene in the event of a disorder between Panama and Colombia in Colombia’s favor, the United States prevented Colombian forces from moving across the isthmus to stop the Panamanian uprising. On November 4, 1903, the immediate support of the USA secured the Declaration of Independence of Panama from Colombia. In return, Panama signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty three weeks later, granting the USA sovereign rights over the interoceanic canal that would be built over the following decade.
History of United States foreign policy
The opening of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 made travel to California fast, cheap and safe. Americans lost interest in canals and focused their attention on building long-distance railways. The British, meanwhile, turned their attention to building the Suez Canal through Egypt. London maintained a veto on on American canal building in Nicaragua. In 1890s, the French made a major effort to build a canal through Panama, but it self-destructed through mismanagement, severe corruption, and especially the deadly disease environment. By the late 1890s Britain saw the need for much improved relations with the United States, and agreed to allow the U.S. to build a canal through either Nicaragua or Panama. The choice was Panama. The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 replaced the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, and adopted the rule of neutralization for the Panama Canal which the U.S. built; it opened in 1914.
Philippe Bunau-Varilla
After the Panama Canal Company went bankrupt in 1888 amidst charges of fraud, Bunau-Varilla was left stranded in Panama. He struggled to find a new way to construct the canal. When the New Panama Canal Company sprang up back in his native France, Bunau-Varilla sailed home, having purchased a large amount of stock. However, as de Lesseps' company had before, the New Panama Canal Company soon abandoned efforts to build the canal. It sold the land in Panama to the United States, in hopes that the company would not fail entirely. U.S. President Grover Cleveland, an anti-imperialist, avoided the canal issue. When the more supportive Theodore Roosevelt became president (succeeding William McKinley), canal planning resumed in the United States.
History of Panama (1977–present)
The second treaty, the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, or simply the Neutrality Treaty, was a much shorter document. Because it had no fixed termination date, this treaty was the major source of controversy. Under its provisions, the United States and Panama agreed to guarantee the canal's neutrality "in order that both in time of peace and in time of war it shall remain secure and open to peaceful transit by the vessels of all nations on terms of entire equality". In times of war, however, United States and Panamanian warships were entitled to "expeditious" transit of the canal under the provisions of Article VI. A Protocol was attached to the Neutrality Treaty, and all nations of the world were invited to subscribe to its provisions.
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
The Republic of Panama grants the United States with any lands, buildings, water rights, or other properties necessary for construction or operation and protection of the Canal. This may include any works of sanitation such as the collection and disposition of sewage in said cities of Panama
Panama Canal expansion project
By January 2016, Panama's President Varela indicated that he anticipated the expansion to be complete around May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. The first ship to cross the canal using the third set of locks was a modern New Panamax vessel, the Chinese-owned container ship "Cosco Shipping Panama." The United States dispatched a navy ship to Panama to demonstrate U.S. naval power to the Chinese ship.
History of Panama
The Panama Canal was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914; the existing 83-kilometer (50-mi.) lock canal is considered one of the world's great engineering triumphs. On January 5, 1909 the government of Rafael Reyes in Colombia signed and presented to its Congress a treaty that would officially recognize the loss of its former province, but the treaty was not ratified, due to popular and legislative opposition. Negotiations continued intermittently until a new treaty was signed on December 21, 1921 which formally accepted the independence of Panama.
Latin America–United States relations
Roosevelt was able to reverse a previous decision by the Walker Commission in favour of a Nicaragua Canal and pushed through the acquisition of the French Panama Canal effort. Panama was then part of Colombia, so Roosevelt opened negotiations with the Colombians to obtain the necessary permission. In early 1903, the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Colombian Senate failed to ratify the treaty.
Outline of Panama
Panama – sovereign country located on the Isthmus of Panama in Central America. Some geographers categorize Panama as a transcontinental nation connecting the northern and southern portions of the Americas. Panama borders Costa Rica to the north-west, Colombia to the south-east, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the North Pacific Ocean to the south. It is an international business center and host to important ports, for the volume of traffic, in the Pacific and Caribbean side. Although Panama is the 3rd largest economy in Central America, after Guatemala and Costa Rica, it has the largest expenditure on resource consumption, making the country the largest consumer in Central America.Geography of Panama
Regions of Panama
Title 35 of the Code of Federal Regulations
Title 35 of the Code of Federal Regulations (35 CFR) was a United States federal government regulation on the Panama Canal. The U.S. controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1904 to 1999. The Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999, and is now operated by the Panama Canal Authority, a Panamanian government agency.
Panama–United States relations
The 1977 Panama Canal Treaties entered into force on October 1, 1979. They replaced the 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty between the United States and Panama (modified in 1936 and 1955), and all other U.S.-Panama agreements concerning the Panama Canal, which were in force on that date. The treaties comprise a basic treaty governing the operation and defense of the Canal from October 1, 1979 to December 31, 1999 (Panama Canal Treaty) and a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the Canal (Neutrality Treaty).
George Washington Goethals
Theodore Roosevelt believed that a US-controlled canal across Central America was a vital strategic interest of the country. Roosevelt encouraged the acquisition of the French Panama Canal effort. The purchase of the French-held land for $40 million was authorized by the June 28, 1902 Spooner Act. Since Panama was then part of Colombia, Roosevelt began negotiating with that country to obtain the necessary rights. In early 1903 the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Senate of Colombia failed to ratify the treaty.
Panama Canal
Another effort was made in 1843. According to the "New York Daily Tribune", August 24, 1843, a contract was entered into by Barings of London and the Republic of New Granada for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Darien (Isthmus of Panama). They referred to it as the Atlantic and Pacific Canal, and it was a wholly British endeavor. It was expected to be completed in five years, but the plan was never carried out. At nearly the same time, other ideas were floated, including a canal (and/or a railroad) across Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Nothing came of that plan, either.
History of the United States
After defeating an insurrection by Filipino nationalists, the United States engaged in a large-scale program to modernize the economy of the Philippines and dramatically upgrade the public health facilities. By 1908, however, Americans lost interest in an empire and turned their international attention to the Caribbean, especially the building of the Panama Canal. In 1912 when Arizona became the final mainland state, the American Frontier came to an end. The canal opened in 1914 and increased trade with Japan and the rest of the Far East. A key innovation was the Open Door Policy, whereby the imperial powers were given equal access to Chinese business, with not one of them allowed to take control of China.
United States invasion of Panama
United States Navy
United States territory
From July 8, 1947, until October 1, 1994, the United States administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, but the Trust ceased to exist when the last member state of Palau gained its independence to become the Republic of Palau. The Panama canal, and the Canal Zone surrounding it, was territory administered by the United States until 1999, when control was relinquished to Panama.
Panama Canal Department
The Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Canal Guard of 1904–1914 both played a pivotal role in the construction and early defense of the Canal. With the active support and encouragement of the United States, Panama declared its independence from Colombia on 3 Nov. 1903 and that same month, the United States received the right to build and administer the Panama Canal.
History of the United States (1865–1918)
Although U.S. capital investments within the Philippines and Puerto Rico were small, some politicians hoped they would be strategic outposts for expanding trade with Latin America and Asia, particularly China. That never happened and after 1903 American attention turned to the Panama Canal as the key to opening new trade routes. The Spanish–American War thus began the active, globally oriented American foreign policy that continues to the present day.
Hay–Pauncefote Treaty
The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty is a treaty signed by the United States and Great Britain on 18 November 1901, as a legal preliminary to the U.S. building the Panama Canal. It nullified the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850 and gave the United States the right to create and control a canal across the Central American isthmus to connect the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. In the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, both nations had renounced building such a canal under the sole control of one nation.
George Washington Goethals
The United States took control of the French property—after the bankruptcy of the French "Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama" that started constructions on The Panama Canal under Ferdinand de Lesseps— on May 4, 1904. The new Panama Canal Zone Control was overseen by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) during construction.
Strom Thurmond
In 1974, Thurmond and Democrat John L. McClellan wrote a resolution to continue American sovereignty by the Panama Canal and zone. Thurmond stated that the rhetoric delivered by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger suggested that the "Canal Zone is already Panamanian territory and the only question involved is the transfer of jurisdiction." In June 1974, Senator Henry M. Jackson informed Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had arranged for Thurmond to cosponsor an amendment revising the present export control system and restricting trade with the Soviet Union while granting the Defense Secretary power to veto any export that might "significantly increase the military capability" of either the Soviet Union or other Communist countries. Jackson introduced the amendment after Howard M. Metzenbaum yielded the Senate floor before Majority Leader Mike Mansfield caught on to the proposal and succeeded in preventing an immediate vote.
Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)
Besides broad national security policy matters, Brown had to deal with several more immediate questions, among them the Panama Canal issue. Control of the Panama canal zone had been a source of contention ever since Panama achieved its independence from Colombia in 1903 and granted the United States a concession "in perpetuity".
In the mid-1960s, after serious disturbances in the zone, the United States and Panama began negotiations that went on intermittently until September 7, 1977, when the countries signed two treaties, one providing for full Panamanian control of the canal by the year 2000 and the other guaranteeing the canal's neutrality. The Defense Department played a major role in the Panama negotiations. Brown championed the treaties through a difficult fight to gain Senate approval (secured in March and April 1978), insisting that they were both advantageous to the United States and essential to the canal's future operation and security.
History of the Panama Canal
French engineer and financier Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla played a key role in changing U.S. attitudes. Bunau-Varilla had a large stake in the failed French canal company, and stood to make money on his investment only if the Panama Canal was completed. Extensive lobbying of U.S. lawmakers coupled with his support of a nascent independence movement among the Panamanian people led to a simultaneous revolution in Panama and the negotiation of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty which secured both independence for Panama and the right for the U.S. to lead a renewed effort to construct the canal. Colombia's response to the Panamanian independence movement was tempered by U.S. military presence; the move is often cited as a classic example of the era of gunboat diplomacy.
Panama Canal Zone
The Spanish–American War of 1898 added new life to the canal debate. During the war, American warships in the Atlantic seeking to reach battle zones in the Pacific had been forced to round Cape Horn. Influential naval pundits, such as Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, urged the construction of a Central American canal. In 1902, with the French efforts moribund, US President Theodore Roosevelt backed the Panama route, and Congress passed legislation authorizing him to purchase the French assets on the condition that an agreement was reached with Colombia. In March 1902 Colombia set its terms for such a treaty: Colombia was to be sovereign over the canal, which would be policed by Colombians paid for by the United States. The host nation would receive a larger percentage of the tolls than provided for in earlier draft treaties. The draft terms were quickly rejected by American officials. Roosevelt was in a hurry to secure the treaty; the Colombians, to whom the French property would revert in 1904, were not. Negotiations dragged on into 1903, during which time there was unrest in Panama City and Colón; the United States sent in Marines to guard the trains. Nevertheless, in early 1903, the United States and Colombia signed a treaty which, despite Colombia's previous objections, gave the United States a wide zone in which it could deploy troops with Colombian consent. On August 12, 1903, the Colombian Senate voted down the treaty 24–0.
History of Panama
According to the treaty, the US was to pay $40,000,000 to the stockholders of the French company that had tried to build the canal across Panama. Colombia's rejection of the treaty confronted these French investors with the prospect of losing everything. At this point, the French company's chief lobbyist (and a major stockholder), Philippe Bunau-Varilla went into action. Justly confident that the Roosevelt administration would support his initiative, he met with Manuel Amador, the leader of the Panamanian Independence movement, in a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York where he wrote him a $100,000 check to fund a renewed Panamanian revolt. In return, Bunau-Varilla would become Panama's representative in Washington.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
Nevertheless, Colombia continued to express interest in negotiating with the United States on building a canal. A treaty was signed in 1846 between the two countries. The treaty removed the existing restrictive tariffs and gave the United States and its citizens the right of free transit of persons and goods over any road or canal that might be constructed in the isthmus. In addition, the United States guaranteed the neutrality of the isthmus and Colombia's sovereignty over it, with a view to ensuring uninterrupted transit for the duration of the treaty, which was to be twenty years or as long thereafter as the parties gave no notice to revise it. Called the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty of 1846, it was actually ratified and became effective in 1848.
Panama Canal
On January 22, 1903, the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by United States Secretary of State John M. Hay and Colombian Chargé Dr. Tomás Herrán. For $10 million and an annual payment, it would have granted the United States a renewable lease in perpetuity from Colombia on the land proposed for the canal. The treaty was ratified by the US Senate on March 14, 1903, but the Senate of Colombia did not ratify it. Bunau-Varilla told President Theodore Roosevelt and Hay of a possible revolt by Panamanian rebels who aimed to separate from Colombia, and hoped that the United States would support the rebels with US troops and money.
Panama Canal Zone
The treaty was approved by the provisional Panamanian government on December 2, 1903, and by the US Senate on February 23, 1904. Under the treaty, Panama received , much of which the United States required to be invested in that country, plus annual payments of ; with those payments made, as well as for the purchase of the French company assets, the Canal Zone was formally turned over by Panama on May 4, 1904, when American officials reopened the Panama City offices of the canal company and raised the American flag. This marked the beginning point for U.S. excavation and construction which concluded in August 1914 with the opening of the canal to commercial traffic.
Panama Canal
The US formally took control of the canal property on May 4, 1904, inheriting from the French a depleted workforce and a vast jumble of buildings, infrastructure, and equipment, much of it in poor condition. A US government commission, the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), was established to oversee construction; it was given control of the Panama Canal Zone, over which the United States exercised sovereignty. The commission reported directly to Secretary of War William Howard Taft and was directed to avoid the inefficiency and corruption that had plagued the French 15 years earlier.
Palmyra Atoll
With imminent opening of the Panama Canal, Palmyra became strategically important. Britain had established a submarine cable station for the All Red Line on nearby Fanning Island. So the U.S. Navy sent to Palmyra, where on February 21, 1912, American sovereignty was formally reaffirmed.
Separation of Panama from Colombia
In 1903, the United States and Colombia signed the Hay–Herrán Treaty to finalize the construction of the Panama Canal but the process was not completed because the Congress of Colombia rejected the measure (which the Colombian government had proposed) on August 12, 1903. The United States then moved to support the separatist movement in Panama to gain control over the remnants of the French attempt at building a canal.
Panama Canal
The United States initiated construction in 1850 of the Panama Railroad (now called the Panama Railway) to cross the isthmus and it opened in 1855. This overland link became a vital piece of Western Hemisphere infrastructure, greatly facilitating trade and largely determining the later canal route, which was made parallel to it.
Balboa, Panama
Formerly a part of the Canal Zone, Balboa is now part of Panama City's township of Ancón. Since its incorporation into the Republic of Panama, part of Balboa has been developed to enhance the port's capacity and to adapt to private ownership of residences (previously owned by the U.S. Government/Canal Zone Government/Panama Canal Company, and rented to employees thereof) and some small companies and restaurants. The rapid growth of the West-side population of Panama's province has resulted in increased car traffic because one of the only two ways available to cross towards the west side of the country is the Bridge of the Americas, which is an issue being solved by the construction of new streets. Demographic changes resulting from the departure of most of the American population (because of Torrijos-Carter Treaties) brought the closure of related facilities and institutions, such as Balboa High School and some English-language churches, obviously because they were mostly available for Americans.
History of the Panama Canal
Roosevelt implied to Panamanian rebels that if they revolted, the US Navy would assist their fight for independence. Panama declared its independence on November 3, 1903, and the USS "Nashville" impeded Colombian interference. The victorious Panamanians gave the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone on February 23, 1904, for $10 million in accordance with the November 18, 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty.
Panama
The US intent to influence the area, especially the Panama Canal's construction and control, led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 and its establishment as a nation. When the Senate of Colombia rejected the Hay–Herrán Treaty on January 22, 1903, the United States decided to support and encourage the Panamanian separatist movement
Panama Canal Zone
In 1836 U.S. statesman Charles Biddle reached an agreement with the New Granadan government to replace the old road with an improved one or a railroad, running from Panama City on the Pacific coast to the Chagres River, where a steamship service would allow passengers and freight to continue to Colón. His agreement was repudiated by the Jackson administration, which wanted rights to build a canal. In 1841, with Panama in rebellion again, British interests secured a right of way over the isthmus from the insurgent regime and occupied Nicaraguan ports that might have served as the Atlantic terminus of a canal. In 1846 the new US envoy to Bogotá, Benjamin Bidlack, was surprised when, soon after his arrival, the New Granadans proposed that the United States be the guarantor of the neutrality of the isthmus. The resulting Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty allowed the United States to intervene militarily to ensure that the interoceanic road (and when it was built, the Panama Railroad as well) would not be disrupted. New Granada hoped that other nations would sign similar treaties, but the one with the United States, which was ratified by the US Senate in June 1848 after considerable lobbying by New Granada, was the only one.
Isthmian Canal Commission
The Isthmian Canal Commission (often known as the ICC) was an American administration commission set up to oversee the construction of the Panama Canal in the early years of American involvement. Established the February 26, 1904, it was given control of the Panama Canal Zone over which the United States exercised sovereignty. The commission reported directly to Secretary of War William Taft.
Latin America–United States relations
The Anglo-Venezuelan boundary dispute of Guayana Esequiba in 1895 asserted for the first time a more outward-looking American foreign policy, particularly in the Americas, marking the United States as a world power. This was the earliest example of modern interventionism under the Monroe Doctrine, in which the U.S. exercised its claimed prerogatives in the Americas. By the late nineteenth century the rapid economic growth of the United States increasingly troubled Latin America. A Pan-American Union was created under American aegis, but it had little impact as did its successor the Organization of American States.
As unrest in Cuba escalated in the 1890s, the United States demanded reforms that Spain was unable to accomplish. The result was the short Spanish–American War of 1898, in which United States acquired Puerto Rico and set up a protectorate over Cuba under the Platt Amendment rule passed as part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill. The building of the Panama Canal absorbed American attention from 1903. The US facilitated a revolt that made Panama independent from Colombia and set up the Panama Canal Zone as an American owned and operated district that was finally returned to Panama in 1979. The Canal opened in 1914 and proved a major factor in world trade. The United States paid special attention to protection of the military approaches to the Panama Canal, including threats by Germany. Repeatedly it seized temporary control of the finances of several countries, especially Haiti and Nicaragua.
Panama Canal Zone
In 1904, the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed. In it, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal. From 1903 to 1979, the territory was controlled by the United States, which had purchased the land from the private and public owners, built the canal and financed its construction. The Canal Zone was abolished in 1979, as a term of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties two years earlier; the canal itself was later under joint U.S.–Panamanian control until it was fully turned over to Panama in 1999.
Presidency of Jimmy Carter
During its ratification debate, the Senate added amendments that granted the U.S. the right to intervene militarily to keep the canal open, which the Panamanians assented to after further negotiations. In March 1978, the Senate ratified both treaties by a margin of 68-to-32. The Canal Zone and all its facilities were turned over to Panama on 31 December 1999, and Reagan repeatedly attacked Carter on this issue in the 1980 presidential campaign.
History of Panama
Less than three weeks later, on November 18, 1903, the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed between Frenchman Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who had promptly been appointed Panamanian ambassador to the United States, representing Panamanian interests, and the US Secretary of State John Hay. The treaty allowed for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land wide and long, (16 kilometers by 80 kilometers) on either side of the Panama Canal Zone. In that zone, the US would build a canal, then administer, fortify, and defend it "in perpetuity".
Western Caribbean Zone
Several attempts to build a Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of Central America failed before US interests acquired the French project and lands in 1902. In constructing the canal, the US builders employed thousands of workers from the British Caribbean, especially Jamaica and Barbados. As a result of this immigration, an English-speaking community grew up in the Canal Zone and adjacent areas. It continues to this day.
Panama Canal Railway
Following the United States' acquisition of Alta California in 1846 and the Oregon Territory in 1848, following the Mexican–American War and with the prospective movement of many more settlers to and from the West Coast, the United States again turned its attention to securing a safe, reliable, and speedy link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1846 the United States signed a treaty with Colombia (then the Republic of New Granada) by which the United States guaranteed Colombian sovereignty over Panama and was authorized to build a railroad or canal at the Panamanian isthmus, guaranteeing its open transit.
Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
Secretary of State Hay and French diplomat Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, who represented the Panamanian government, quickly negotiated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty. Signed on November 18, 1903, it established the Panama Canal Zone—over which the United States would exercise sovereignty—and insured the construction of an Atlantic to Pacific ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Panama sold the Canal Zone (consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending on each side of the centerline) to the United States for $10 million and a steadily increasing yearly sum. In February 1904, Roosevelt won Senate ratification of the treaty in a 66-to-14 vote. The Isthmian Canal Commission, supervised by Secretary of War Taft, was established to govern the zone and oversee the construction of the canal. Roosevelt appointed George Whitefield Davis as the first governor of the Panama Canal Zone and John Findley Wallace as the Chief Engineer of the canal project. When Wallace resigned in 1905, Roosevelt appointed John Frank Stevens, who built a railroad in the canal zone and initiated the construction of a lock canal. Stevens was replaced in 1907 by George Washington Goethals, who saw construction through to its completion. Roosevelt traveled to Panama in November 1906 to inspect progress on the canal, becoming the first sitting president to travel outside of the United States.
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
The Republic of Panama grants the United States with the use of the land said canal be built, the surrounding land for construction purposes, and all islands within the limits of the zone
History of Panama
By the time the Canal opened in 1914, many Panamanians still questioned the validity of the treaty. The controversy surrounding the US's presence in Panama was a major issue in Panamanian politics throughout the following decades and revisions to the Hay—Bunau-Varilla Treaty in 1936 (Arias-Roosevelt/Hull-Alfaro Treaty) and 1955 (Remon-Eisenhower Treaty) both failed to adequately address the situation. The controversy would continue until the US agreed to hand over the Canal Zone wholly to Panama in the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
Panama Canal Division
The Panama Canal Division was a unit of the United States Army, established in order to ensure the United States could adequately defend the Canal Zone in Panama. When it was authorized in 1920, similar divisions were organized to defend Hawaii and the Philippines. The division was organized in 1921, and active until 1932.
Atlantic Bridge, Panama
The third bridge over the Panama Canal, known as the Atlantic Bridge, is a road bridge under construction in Colón, Panama, which will span the Atlantic entrance to the Canal. When completed it will be the third bridge over the Panama Canal after the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial Bridge, both on the Pacific side of the canal.
Gulf of Panama
The Gulf of Panama () is a gulf in the Pacific Ocean, near the southern coast of Panama. It has a maximum width of , a maximum depth of and the size of . The Panama Canal connects the Gulf of Panama with the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The Panamanian capital Panama City is the main urban centre on the gulf shore.
Panama Canal
The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The United States spent almost $500,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $9,169,650,000 now) to finish the project. This was by far the largest American engineering project to date. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship .
Charlie Chan in Panama
Charlie Chan must stop a spy from destroying the Panama Canal, trapping a Navy fleet on its way to the Pacific after maneuvers in the Atlantic. As the U.S. fleet prepares to navigate the waters of the Panama Canal, Panama City becomes rife with spies.
Panama Canal
In 1921, Colombia and the United States entered into the Thomson–Urrutia Treaty, in which the United States agreed to pay Colombia $25 million: $5 million upon ratification, and four-$5 million annual payments, and grant Colombia special privileges in the Canal Zone. In return, Colombia recognized Panama as an independent nation.
World War II by country
The small Panama Canal Zone was United States territory, and American forces from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, the USAAF (at Howard Air Force Base), and Colombian forces helped inside the Canal Zone, guarded the Panama Canal from both ends. This Canal provided the United States and its Allies with the ability to move warships and troops rapidly between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Since most of the American shipbuilding capability was on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, the Canal was vital for moving new warships to the Pacific to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy
Panama Canal
France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks are at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks are 34 m (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, post-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo.
History of Panama (1821–1903)
Furthermore, the United States was entitled to acquire additional areas of land or water necessary for canal operations and held the option of exercising eminent domain in Panama City. Within this territory Washington gained "all the rights, power, and authority . . . which the United States would possess and exercise if it were the sovereign ... to the entire exclusion" of Panama.
Afro-Panamanian
In 1904 when the construction of the Panama Canal was taken over by the United States for the failure of the French company, will again resort to the West Indian worker. Although between 1904 and 1914 the vast majority of Afro-West Indians who arrived in Panama did a one-year contract with the idea of returning to their home islands once the offshore project, after construction of the canal many Afro-Antillean stayed in Panama. Afro-West Indians who remained in Panama many got jobs in the Canal Zone and became the largest immigrant group in Panama. On the subject of Afro-Antillean Panama, Leslie B. Rout said that when the canal was opened in 1914, some 20,000 African-West Indians remained in Panama.
Bridge of the Americas
The bridge over the Panama Canal shall bear the name Bridge of the Americas. Said name will be used exclusively to identify said bridge.
Panamanian government officials shall reject any document in which reference is made to the bridge by any name other than "Bridge of the Americas".
A copy of this resolution, with the appropriate note on style, shall be forwarded to all legislative bodies of the world, so that all may give the bridge the name chosen by this honorable assembly, complying with the express will of the Panamanian people.
Given in the city of Panama on the second day of the month of October of nineteen hundred and sixty-two.
During the inauguration ceremony (which was concluded with the playing of the "Thatcher Ferry Bridge March"), U.S. Under Secretary of State George Wildman Ball said in his speech: "we can look today to this bridge as a new and bright step toward the realization of that dream of a Pan-American Highway, which is now almost a reality. The grand bridge we inaugurate today — truly a bridge of the Americas — completes the last stage of the highway from the United States to Panama".
Panama–United States relations
The details of the arrangements for U.S. operation and defense of the Canal under the Panama Canal Treaty are spelled out in separate implementing agreements. The Canal Zone and its government ceased to exist when the treaties entered into force and Panama assumed complete jurisdiction over Canal Zone territories and functions, a process which was finalized on December 31, 1999.
History of Panama (1904–64)
The result was agreement on a number of issues. The United States pledged sympathetic consideration of future arbitration requests involving economic issues that did not affect the vital aspects of canal operation. Special efforts were to be made to protect Panamanian business interests from the smuggling of cheaply purchased commissary goods out of the zone. Washington also promised to seek appropriations from Congress to sponsor the repatriation of the numerous immigrant canal workers, who were aggravating the unemployment situation. Most important, however, was President Roosevelt's acceptance, in a joint statement with Harmodio Arias, that United States rights in the zone applied only for the purposes of "maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection" of the canal. The resolution of this long-standing issue, along with a clear recognition of Panama as a sovereign nation, was a significant move in the direction of the Panamanian interpretation of the proper United States position in the isthmus.