In foreign affairs the most important action Roosevelt took during the
second administration was in regard to the building of the Panama
Canal. His action is still termed “unconstitutional” by many people,
and a bill is now under discussion to compensate Colombia for the
alleged damages she sustained through the secession of the State of
Panama, and the building of the canal without her consent.
Roosevelt’s defense, and the defense of his eminent Secretary of State,
John Hay, was, to put it bluntly, “We got the canal.”
During the four centuries that had passed since Balboa crossed the
Isthmus, statesmen had talked of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans by an Isthmus canal. It had been talked about in Washington for
a half-century, but nothing had come of it.
Shortly after Roosevelt became President, an agreement was reached with
the French Panama Company, and the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was signed,
by which the United States acquired possession, so far as Europe was
concerned, which warranted her undertaking the task.
The logical location for the canal was the line already begun by the
French company in Panama. Panama belonged to Colombia. Colombia had
promised friendly co-operation. Her delegate to the Pan-American
Congress in Mexico had joined in the unanimous vote which requested
the United States to proceed with building the canal.
Both Colombia and the Isthmus had been places of frequent revolutions
and outbreaks. Many times United States warships had been forced to
patrol the Isthmus, at times at the urgent request of the Colombian
government. Through another revolution Colombia had come under the
dictatorship of Marquin, its former vice-president. Marquin, although
he had consented to the Hay-Herran Treaty, by which Colombia had agreed
to the building of the canal, now made use of his power as a dictator
to break his promise. He summoned a congress especially to break the
canal treaty. This congress, which Roosevelt describes as “a congress
of mere puppets,” carried out Marquin’s wishes. The treaty was rejected.
The President, through Secretary Hay, had warned Colombia that
grave consequences might follow her rejection of the treaty. He had
information that the entire population of Panama felt that it was of
vital concern to their prosperity that the canal be immediately built;
newspaper correspondents predicted a revolution on the Isthmus.
On November 8, 1903, the revolution occurred. The Colombian troops
stationed on the Isthmus joined in the revolution, and there was no
bloodshed, except the life of an unfortunate Chinaman.
Roosevelt immediately recognized the Republic of Panama and the other
principal nations did likewise. A canal treaty was at once negotiated
with the new republic, and, after considerable debate in the Senate,
the treaty was ratified by that body and the work on the canal began.
Roosevelt’s case against Colombia was that, so long as the United
States was considering the alternative route through Nicaragua,
Colombia eagerly pressed this country to build a canal across the
Isthmus. When the United States was committed to this latter course,
Colombia, under her usurper, refused to fulfil the agreement, with the
hope of securing the rights and property of the French Panama Company,
so as to secure the $40,000,000 the United States had authorized as
payment to this company. John Hay thus defended Roosevelt’s course:
“The action of the President in the Panama matter is not only in the
strictest accordance with the principles of justice and equity, and in
line with the best precedents of our public policy, but it was the only
course he could have taken in compliance with our treaty rights and
obligations.”
In November, 1906, the President’s interest in the work on the
canal led him to go in person to Panama. This act caused a storm of
disapproval in certain quarters, similar to that which President
Wilson met when he decided to attend the peace conference at Paris.
Roosevelt’s critics pointed out that no President had ever gone beyond
the bounds of his country. Roosevelt went and let his critics howl.
Here, in one thing at least, Wilson and Roosevelt were in agreement,
namely, that where the President of this country sets foot that place
is within the sphere of the United States.