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The UNITED STATES to 1910 (7 of 8)

In the area of foreign affairs, Roosevelt jumped at the opportunity to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. He had stated that "to hold its own in the struggle for naval and commercial supremacy" the U.S. had to strengthen itself as a world power and it had to build a canal through Central America. In 1903, the British government gave up its rights to the joint construction of such canal with the United States, and a French company was eager to sell to the United States its right-of-way across Panama.

Panama was then a part of Colombia, and the will of the regime in power in Colombia was an obstacle to Roosevelt. Colombian politicians were bent on holding up negotiations and getting from the U.S. as much as it could in exchange for an agreement over the canal -- with Roosevelt describing Colombia's president, Marroquin, as "a villainous monkey."

Opportunity presented itself to Roosevelt in the form of people in Panama wishing to free themselves from Colombian rule. A rebellion in Panama soon followed. The rebels announced Panama's independence, and the Roosevelt administration recognized Panama within hours. In agreement with the new regime in Panama, Roosevelt sent troops there to combat any attempt by Colombia to crush the new regime. Colombia backed down and there was no violence -- with Roosevelt citing the benefits of being strong. Then the U.S. signed a treaty with Panama for the building of the canal, and work began on the canal without delay, a project that was to take eleven years to complete.