ABSTRACT
Since 1903, when the United States (US) acquired the rights to build a canal through the center of Panamanian territory, the construction of a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has been an engineering achievement of profound national significance, inspiring national pride as few other achievements have in American history. In January 1903, the US and Colombia signed a treaty giving the US the right to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama, then a province of Colombia. The way in which the 1903 treaty was negotiated and the pressure exerted on Panama to ratify it have rankled the sensibilities of Panamanians almost as much as the treaty’s terms. The actual construction of the Panama Canal soon overshadowed the issue of how the treaty had been negotiated, and when the canal opened for traffic on August 15, 1914, it was hailed as the greatest engineering feat in history.
