The Panama Canal was constructed between 1904 and 1914, allowing ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without having to navigate around South America. The US took on the massive project in order to extend its global influence and project its ideals of progress, industrialization, and ingenuity. While controversial at the time due to how Panama gained independence from Colombia, the canal's completion was seen as a triumph cementing America's role in world affairs under the expansionist leadership of Theodore Roosevelt.

1. Panama Canal
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2. What does the construction
of the Panama Canal show us?
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3. Faith in progress
Industrialization
Progressivism
American ingenuity
Desire to extend American influence abroad
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4. “Thus the canal project
became a signal moment in
the building of America’s new
empire, and it also became a
moment wrapped up
inextricably with idealism and
notions of selfless gifts to
civilization.”
--Julie Green in The Canal
Builders (2009)
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5. Is American an empire?
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6. “Scholars have shown that many Americans,
despite reluctance to describe their nation as
an empire, fervently believed in expansionism
since the founding of the Republic. Thomas
Jefferson, for example, perceived expansion as
essential for the continuation and blossoming
of freedom.” (Green)
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7. Spanish War of 1898
As a result, U.S.
acquired Puerto
Rico, Cuba,
Guam, Hawaii
and the
Philippines
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8. Roosevelt was an
expansionist
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9. So Roosevelt orchestrated
the independence of
Panama from Colombia.
He sent war ships and let it
know he would support the
independence movement in
Panama.
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10. There was criticism
“Stolen property.”
-New York Times
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11. “If ever a government could be
said to have received a mandate
from civilization to effect an
object the accomplishment of
which was demanded in the
interest of mankind, the United
States holds that position with
regard to the inter-oceanic
canal.”
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12. “The Man Who Can Make Dirt Fly.”
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13. Monday, 4 March, 13

14. Monday, 4 March, 13

15. The President
makes a visit to
Panama in 1906.
First overseas trip
by a President.
What does this
photograph express?
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16. “The photograph represented to the world the values
U.S. officials sought to associate with the canal project:
American efficiency, technological superiority, conquest
over nature, and leadership. Roosevelt’s journey to the
isthmus, and his fleeting moment aboard the steam
shovel, would prove a milestone in the history of the
canal-- and a turning point in the effort to construct a
triumphalist narrative of America’s role in the
world.” (Green)
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17. “Perhaps only Roosevelt could
have turned the situation
around, for he brilliantly
combined the great themes of
the early 20th century:
progressivism, optimism,
masculinity, and a vivacious
belief that America was destined
to play a leadership role in
world affairs.”
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18. “Whoever you are, if you are doing your duty, the balance of the country is placed
under obligation to you, just as it is to a soldier in a great war. As I have looked at you,
and seen you work, seen what you have done and are doing, I have felt just exactly as I
would feel to see the big men of our country carrying on a great war. ...This is one of the
great works of the world. It is a greater work than you yourselves at the moment
realise.”
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19. The U.S. built the canal
They were given control
of the Panama Canal
Zone in perpetuity
1977 Treaty returned it
to Panama in 1999.
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20. Expansion: Panama Canal 2013
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