USA HISTORY

In exchange for the right to construct a canal, the U.S. helped which country gain independence?

(A) Columbia

(B) ** Panama

(C) Cuba

(D) Mexico

Concept note-1: -With the support of the U.S. government, Panama issues a declaration of independence from Colombia. The revolution was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French-U.S. corporation that hoped to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama.

Concept note-2: -The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama. Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal symbolized U.S. technological prowess and economic power.

Concept note-3: -By persuading and funding an independence movement in Panama, the newly formed nation signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing it to build a canal through a strip of Panamanian land that was leased to them. In return, the U.S. vowed to maintain order and independence in the new country of Panama.

Concept note-4: -In 1903, the United States negotiated a treaty with Colombia that granted the United States the right to construct and operate a canal for 100 years within a zone six-miles wide across Panama.

Concept note-5: -The United States acquired the rights to build and operate the Panama Canal during the first years of the 20th century. The Hay-Herrán Treaty, negotiated with the nation of Colombia in 1903, allowed the United States rights to the land surrounding the planned canal.