USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

[SOURCES]
How did the United States increase its access to the Pacific Ocean in the early 1900’s?

(A) They established new colonies

(B) They gained new islands

(C) ** They built a canal

(D) They defeated large enemies

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The Panama Canal, a manmade pathway to connect the Atlantic to the Pacific, was begun by France in 1881, but this venture failed by 1890. Between 1904 and 1914, the United States completed the construction. The canal uses locks to raise ships to about 85 feet above sea level and lowers them down again.

Concept note-2: -On November 6, 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on November 18 the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting America exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama received $10 million and an annuity of $250, 000 beginning nine years later.

Concept note-3: -President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term United States goal-a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Concept note-4: -Before the Panama Canal was built, ships traveling between the east and west coasts of the American continents had to go around Cape Horn in South America, a voyage that was some 8, 000 nautical miles longer then going through the canal and that took about two months to complete.

Concept note-5: -The Canal and the Panamanians. The frayed relations between the U.S. and Panama began almost immediately after the signing of the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty that allowed the U.S. to build and maintain the Panama Canal on the Isthmus of Panama.