Roosevelt Corollary & Panama Canal PDF

The Roosevelt Corollary & The Panama Canal  Theodore Roosevelt 26th President 1901-1909 Youngest president (42) Rough Riders in the Spanish American War Governor of NY Vice President Cowboy & conservationist Hunter & Progressive reformer Intellectual & adventurer Rea...

The Roosevelt Corollary & The Panama Canal  Theodore Roosevelt 26th President 1901-1909 Youngest president (42) Rough Riders in the Spanish American War Governor of NY Vice President Cowboy & conservationist Hunter & Progressive reformer Intellectual & adventurer Read a book a day Wrote over 150,000 letters Played tennis & boxed everyday Officially renamed Executive Mansion “The White House”  Roosevelt & The Canal Theodore Roosevelt and the Pan ama Canal “Speak softly and carry a big Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet “It is the duty of the civilized nations to police the uncivilized”  Panama Canal Background Previously, the French had tried and failed to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When Theodore Roosevelt became president, he wanted the US to accomplish what the French could not and build a canal through the Isthmus. When a proposed treaty over rights to build in what was then a Colombian territory was rejected, Roosevelt used the US military to support a Panamanian independence movement. Panama had been struggling to gain its independence from Columbia and was able to succeed with the help of US military support. On November 6, 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama and negotiated a treaty granting the U.S. exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama received $10 million and annual payments of $250,000 beginning in 1912. Many criticized the treaty, claiming the US took advantage of Panama and undermined its independence. The canal  Backed Panamania n independen ce $10 million + $250,000 annually as “renter fee” to Panama “I took the Construction of the Canal Roosevelt Corollary Background Latin America consumed a fair amount of Roosevelt's time and energy during his first term as President. Venezuela became a focus of his attention in 1902 when Germany and Britain sent ships to blockade that country's coastline. The European nations had given loans to Venezuela that the Venezuelan dictator refused to repay. Although both Germany and Britain assured the Americans that they did not have any territorial designs on Venezuela, Roosevelt felt aggrieved by their actions and demanded that they agree to settlement mediated by the United States to resolve the dispute. This was later known as the Venezuelan Crisis. Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) also encountered problems with European countries. Again, European investors had appealed to their governments to collect money from a debt-ridden Latin American nation. After the Dominican government appealed to the United States, Roosevelt ordered an American collector to assume control of the customs houses and collect duties (taxes) to avoid possible European military action. Big Stick Diplomacy: Diplomacy is how countries conduct foreign policy & interact with foreign countries Excerpts from the Roosevelt Corollary.... All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship...Chronic wrongdoing or failure to keep its obligations...may ultimately require intervention...and in the Western Hemisphere the [commitment] of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may lead the United States, in cases of wrongdoing, to exercise [carry out] an international police power. ….We would interfere with our southern neighbors only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had violated the rights of the United States or had invited or caused foreign aggression to the detriment [harm] of any part “Hands Off! This in reality entails no new obligation upon us, for the Monroe Doctrine means precisely such a guarantee on our part.”