ns wanted to build a canal in Nicaragua; however, because of British
2 3objections, they did not pursue the project. The French pre ferred the Panama route, but could not negotiate acceptable arrangements with the Colombian government.
The French finally reached a canal accord with the Colom bians, and commenced work on the project in 1880 (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989). For the French private company to complete the canal, however, it was necessary to obtain financing guar antees from the French government. The United States govern ment, which did not want a French canal in Central America, successfully blocked French governmental financial guarantees, by claiming that such action would violate the American Monroe Doctrine (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989). As a consequence, the French canal building effort failed, which provided the Ameri cans with an opportunity to gain control of the project.
Unfortunately, however, the Americans could not negotiate satisfactory arrangements with the Colombian government to allow an American takeover of the canal project. The sticking point was an American demand for a 100 year lease on a 10 kilo meter wide strip across the Isthmus of Panama.
In response to the failure to gain Colombian governmental assent for American control over the canal project, a revolu tionary junta was formed in Panama. The junta was headed by the president of the American owned Panama Railroad Company, Jose Augustin Arango (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989). The Amricangovernment immediately announced support for the junta, and warned Colombia against armed action to subdue the revolution in their own country (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989). 4
In November 1903, the junta "with the protection of United States naval forces, carried out a successful uprising against the Colombian government" (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989, 23). In 1846, the United States and Colombia nego...