History of the Americans
Professor XXXXXXXXX
June 2nd, 2013
1652 Words The topic that will be researched and analyzed in the following essay has to do with the Imperialist Era in the United States. The question is: “To what extend did the Panama Canal lead to our success as Imperialists?” The aspects I will be researching are the history of the Panama Canal, the problems related to it, and the consequences that lead to our success as Imperialists. In general, my method of investigation was a bibliographical research, based on information found in books and on the internet. As resources I used both primary and secondary sources. First, I have a database article from Texas Digital Library, and secondly I used an IB Diploma Programme Book called “History of the Americans” published by the Oxford University and written by Y. Berliner, T. Leppard, A. Mamaux, M. D. Rogers and D. Smith. Also, I based my essay on a book from a historian called Kenneth C. Davis. The book’s name is “Don’t know much about History”, and it was a New York Times bestseller. Furthermore, I used another article by an historian called Sarah Jane Gilbert. The article has the title “Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround”. The primary source I found was a letter from President Roosevelt to the Senate and House of Representatives that is called “Message to Congress after Returning from the Canal Zone in Panama”. The idea for the Panama Canal was very old, almost since Balboa stood on the cliffs of Darien in modern Panama. In fact, in 1880 a French group led by Ferdinand de Lesseps put together a company with the capital of thousands of investors to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, back then still part of Colombia. But corruption, miserable engineering plans and the harsh realities of the Central American jungle with its rainy season floods, earthquakes, yellow fever and malaria doomed de