The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book by Arthur G. Sharp

Author:Arthur G. Sharp [Sharp, Arthur G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, General, Biography & Autobiography, Americas (North; Central; South; West Indies)
ISBN: 9781440527654
Google: g-tglOB0r4QC
Publisher: F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2011-08-17T23:00:00+00:00

TR was not convinced he had to deal with Colombia. He wrote in his autobiography, “Since 1846 we had a treaty with … New Granada, the predecessor of … Colombia … [and] Panama, by which … the United States was guaranteed … right of way across the Isthmus of Panama by any mode of communication that might be constructed … in return our Government guaranteed the … neutrality of the Isthmus with a view to the preservation of free transit.”

In the final fifty years of the ninteenth century, Panama had been ruled by forty administrations and suffered through fifty riots and five attempted secessions. When Panama declared its independence in 1903, the U.S. government supported it. That had as much to do with Colombia’s intransigence in dealing with the Roosevelt administration over canal rights as it did with Panama’s independence.

TR saw the Panama Canal as a necessary passage for expediting U.S. military forces around the globe. Consequently, he vowed to build the canal, which he said in his autobiography was the most important action he took during his presidency. Neither Colombia nor an effete U.S. Congress was going to get in his way.

On January 22, 1903, TR’s secretary of state John Hay signed the Hay-Herran Treaty between the United States and Colombia. According to the terms, Colombia would grant a lease in perpetuity to the United States on a six-mile-wide strip across the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000.

The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on March 14, 1903, but the Colombian Senate did not follow suit. The Colombians held out for $25 million, which infuriated TR. He thought that was extortion. He looked for another way to gain access to the coveted canal ground.

Yet Another Revolution

If nothing else, President Roosevelt knew how to take advantage of an opportunity to accomplish something he wanted badly. News reached Washington that yet another revolution was beginning in Panama. The word was that the Panamanians would be happy to turn over canal rights to the United States under the same terms Colombia had rejected.

That gave TR an idea. After all, the United States had intervened in Panama’s politics before. Why not now, when the United States had something valuable to gain?

TR did not openly support the revolution in Panama, but he did let folks know through back channels that he would not oppose it. And, if a U.S. warship or two should show up in Panama by coincidence to support the rumored coup, so much the better. That is exactly what happened.

On November 2, 1903, the U.S. Navy’s gunboat Nashville arrived in Colon, Panama, with a contingent of marines. That was “barely on time,” according to TR. Another ten U.S. warships settled offshore. The day after Nashville arrived, the coup occurred. The coincidence was remarkable.

The Colombian troops there might have put down the coup, but they were reluctant to do so in the presence of Nashville, the U.S. Marines, and the warships offshore that inhibited any attempts to reinforce them.

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