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Article: Panama: Chapter 1C. The United States Protectorate
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Chapter 1C. The United States Protectorate
The 1903 Treaty and Qualified Independence
Naval operations during the Spanish-American War (1898-99) served
to
convince President Theodore Roosevelt that the United States needed
to control
a canal somewhere in the Western Hemisphere. This interest culminated
in the
Spooner Bill of June 29, 1902, providing for a canal through the isthmus
of
Panama, and the Hay-Herran Treaty of January 22, 1903, under which
Colombia
gave consent to such a project in the form of a 100-year lease on
an area 10
kilometers wide. This treaty, however, was not ratified in Bogota,
and the
United States, determined to construct a canal across ...