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Section 3: U.S. Involvement Overseas
When the United States had ideas of
imperialism (building an empire)…
They saw Asia as potentially being profitable for their resources
and as a market to sell goods (which is what colonies are for)
They even considered China as a
potential place to expand interests
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Japan and some
European countries were
already claiming rights to
parts of China (China was
a weak country at the
time).
They were said to be
expanding their “spheres
of influence”
The United States also
wanted a piece of the
action in China.
We asked that China have an
Open Door Policy
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That all nations would
be allowed to trade in
China.
Eventually a group of
Chinese (the Boxers)
were tired of the
outside influences of
all these foreigners
and had a rebellion.
Since the United States was starting to
have more interests in Asia…
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We needed to
find a more
efficient way
to get there –
both for
trade and for
military
purposes.
It was proposed to build a canal to
connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
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A section of Columbia had
the best spot.
But, Columbia was
unwilling to give up a
section of their land.
President Roosevelt sent
the United States Navy to
help a small revolution in
Panama.
The revolution was
successful and a new
nation was created –
called Panama
These new leaders gave America the rights to a
ten mile wide strip of land through Panama
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The United States paid
Panama $10 million and
agreed to give them
250,000 a year in “rent.”
Some people protested the
United States had cheated
Panama of their land.
The U.S. finally paid
Columbia $25 million.
Many Latin Americans
developed a bigger mistrust
of Americans (always
coming in to someone else’s
country and trying to take
control)
The French had first decided to
build a canal through Panama
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But they had to stop – too many diseases
(Malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, etc)
The U.S. eventually agreed to finish what the French
started (after cures were found for these diseases)
Panama / The Panama Canal
The Panama Canal web site
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The Future
The ships for which the canal was designed are now long gone. Modern shipping has
increased the size of ships. The increase in the tonnage in which can be carried has
thus caused problems for the canal. The canal can only accommodate ships carrying
up to 65,000 tons of cargo, but recently ships which are able to carry 300,000 tons
have been introduced.
The problem of the ever-increasing size in ships has caused discussion into the
construction of a new canal joining the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. There have been
discussions on three alternative routes for a new canal, through; Columbia, Mexico
and Nicaragua. The Columbian and Mexican routes would allow for the construction
of a sea level canal, whereas the Nicaraguan route would require a lock system.
If a replacement canal were to be constructed, the economic effect on the Republic
of Panama would be a great concern as the present canal employs 14,000 people, of
which 4,000 are Panamanians. It has been suggested that, if a new canal were to be
built, the existing canal could be converted to a hydroelectric power station at a
relatively small cost. As Panama has no iron-ore deposits and lacks oil, natural gas
resources or skilled labor, there is no real need for a new source of cheap power.
The capacity of the existing canal could be increased by converting it to a sea level
passage. This would be carried out by the dredging of more than 765 million cubic
meters of earth and rock which could be carried out without interfering with existing
canal traffic. Water retaining structures would be constructed to maintain the canal
levels during excavation. When excavation had been completed, the water retaining
structure would be demolished by blasting them into deep pits. The lowering of the
canals level would take place over a seven day period and would be the only time
traffic would be disrupted.
It was suggested during the 1960's that the canal could be increased in size by the
use of nuclear explosives and would cost less than one third, and take about half the
time than using conventional excavation methods. It is now obvious that this would
cause a great deal of concern for all anti-nuclear groups.
The Panama Canals administration will be under the control of Panama in 1999
The United States also got involved in the
affairs of other Latin American countries
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The Dominican
Republic
Nicaragua
Mexico (Poncho Villa)
President Roosevelt wanted to make it clear
that the United States would remain the
dominant power in the western hemisphere
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We already had the
Monroe Doctrine:
Roosevelt added “the
Roosevelt Corollary”
This said the U.S. would
act as a policeman in
North America if they
had to.
efforts by European
countries to colonize land or
interfere with states in the
Americas would be viewed
by the United States of
America as acts of
aggression requiring US
intervention