Panama Canal Zone

ThePanama Canal Zone(Spanish:Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as theCanal Zone, was aconcessionof theUnited Stateslocated in theIsthmus of Panamathat existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of thePanama Canaland an area generally extending five miles (8 km) on each side of the centerline, but excludingPanama CityandColón.Its capital wasBalboa.
The Panama Canal Zone was created on November 18, 1903 from theterritory of Panama; it was established with the signing of theHay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which allowed for the construction of the Panama Canal within the territory by the United States. The zone existed until October 1, 1979, when it was incorporated back into Panama.
In 1904, theIsthmian Canal Conventionwas proclaimed. In it, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land and land underwater for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal. From 1903 to 1979, the territory was controlled by the United States, which had purchased the land from its private and public owners, built the canal and financed its construction. The Canal Zone was abolished in 1979, as a term of theTorrijos–Carter Treatiestwo years earlier; the canal itself was later under joint U.S.–Panamanian control until it was fully turned over to Panama in 1999.
Proposals for a canal across theIsthmus of Panamadate back to 1529, soon after the Spanish conquest.Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón, a lieutenant of conquistadorVasco Núñez de Balboa, suggested four possible routes, one of which closely tracks the present-day canal. Saavedra believed that such a canal would make it easier for European vessels to reach Asia. Although KingCharles Iwas enthusiastic and ordered preliminary works started, his officials in Panama soon realized that such an undertaking was beyond the capabilities of 16th-century technology. One official wrote to Charles, "I pledge to Your Majesty that there is not a prince in the world with the power to accomplish this".The Spanish instead built a road across the isthmus. The road came to be crucial to Spain's economy, as treasure obtained along the Pacific coast of South America was offloaded atPanama Cityand hauled through the jungle to the Atlantic port of Nombre de Dios, close to present-dayColón.Although additional canal building proposals were made throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, they came to naught.
The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw a number of canals built. The success of theErie Canalin the United States and the collapse of theSpanish EmpireinHispanic Americaled to a surge of American interest in building an interoceanic canal. Beginning in 1826, US officials began negotiations withGran Colombia(present-dayColombia,Venezuela,EcuadorandPanama), hoping to gain a concession for the building of a canal. Jealous of their newly obtained independence and fearing that they would be dominated by an American presence, the presidentSimón BolívarandNew Granadaofficials declined American offers. The new nation was politically unstable, and Panama rebelled several times during the 19th century.
In 1836, U.S. statesman Charles Biddle reached an agreement with the New Granadan government to replace the old road with an improved one or a railroad, running fromPanama Cityon the Pacific coast to theChagres River, where a steamship service would allow passengers and freight to continue to Colón. His agreement was repudiated by theJacksonadministration, which wanted rights to build a canal. In 1841, with Panama in rebellion again, British interests secured a right of way over the isthmus from the insurgent regime and occupied Nicaraguan ports that might have served as the Atlantic terminus of a canal.
In 1846, the new US envoy toBogotá,Benjamin Bidlack, was surprised when, soon after his arrival, the New Granadans proposed that the United States be the guarantor of the neutrality of the isthmus. The resultingMallarino–Bidlack Treatyallowed the United States to intervene militarily to ensure that the interoceanic road (and when it was built, thePanama Railroadas well) would not be disrupted. New Granada hoped that other nations would sign similar treaties, but the one with the United States, which was ratified by theUS Senatein June 1848 after considerable lobbying by New Granada, was the only one.
The treaty led the U.S. government to contract for steamship service to Panama from ports on both coasts. When theCalifornia Gold Rushbegan in 1848, traffic through Panama greatly increased, and New Granada agreed to allow thePanama Railroadto be constructed by American interests. This first "transcontinental railroad" opened in 1850.There wereriots in Panama City in 1856; several Americans were killed. US warships landedMarines, who occupied the railroad station and kept the railroad service from being interrupted by the unrest. The United States demanded compensation from New Granada, including a zone 20 miles (32 km) wide, to be governed by US officials and in which the United States might build any "railway or passageway" it desired. The demand was dropped in the face of resistance by New Granadan officials, who accused the United States of seeking a colony.
Through the remainder of the 19th century, the United States landed troops several times to preserve the railway connection. At the same time, it pursued a canal treaty with Colombia (as New Granada was renamed). One treaty, signed in 1868, was rejected by theColombian Senate, which hoped for better terms from the incomingGrant administration. Under this treaty, the canal would have been in the middle of a 20-mile zone, under American management but Colombian sovereignty, and the canal would revert to Colombia in 99 years. The Grant administration did little to pursue a treaty and, in 1878, the concession to build the canal fell to a French firm. The French efforts eventually failed, but with Panama apparently unavailable, the United States considered possible canal sitesin MexicoandNicaragua.
TheSpanish–American Warof 1898 added new life to the canal debate. During the war, American warships in the Atlantic seeking to reach battle zones in the Pacific had been forced to roundCape Horn. Influential naval pundits, such as CaptainAlfred Thayer Mahan, urged the construction of a Central American canal. In 1902, with the French efforts moribund, US presidentTheodore Rooseveltbacked the Panama route, and Congress passed legislation authorizing him to purchase the French assetson the condition that an agreement was reached with Colombia.
In March 1902, Colombia set its terms for such a treaty: Colombia was to be sovereign over the canal, which would be policed by Colombians paid for by the United States. The host nation would receive a larger percentage of the tolls than provided for in earlier draft treaties. The draft terms were quickly rejected by American officials.
Roosevelt was in a hurry to secure the treaty; the Colombians, to whom the French property would revert in 1904, were not. Negotiations dragged on into 1903, during which time there was unrest in Panama City and Colón; the United States sent in Marines to guard the trains. Nevertheless, in early 1903, the United States and Colombia signed a treaty which, despite Colombia's previous objections, gave the United States a 6 miles (9.7 km) wide zone in which it could deploy troops with Colombian consent. On August 12, 1903, the Colombian Senate voted down the treaty 24–0.
Roosevelt was angered by the Colombians' actions, especially when the Colombian Senate made a counteroffer that was more financially advantageous to Colombia. A Frenchman who had worked on his nation's canal efforts,Philippe Bunau-Varilla, represented Panamanian insurgents; he met with Roosevelt and with Secretary of StateJohn Hay, who saw to it that his principals received covert support. When the revolution came in November 1903, the United States intervened to protect the rebels, who succeeded in taking over the province, declaring itindependent as the Republic of Panama. Bunau-Varilla was initially the Panamanian representative in the United States, though he was about to be displaced by actual Panamanians, and hastily negotiateda treaty, giving the United States a zone 20 miles (32 km) wide and full authority to pass laws to govern that zone. The Panama Canal Zone (Canal Zone, or Zone) excluded Panama City and Colón, but included four offshore islands, and permitted the United States to add to the zone any additional lands needed to carry on canal operations. The Panamanians were minded to disavow the treaty, but Bunau-Varilla told the new government that if Panama did not agree, the United States would withdraw its protection and make the best terms it could with Colombia. The Panamanians agreed, even adding a provision to thenew constitution, at US request, allowing the larger nation to intervene to preserve public order.
The treaty was approved by the provisional Panamanian government on December 2, 1903, and by the US Senate on February 23, 1904. Under the treaty, Panama receivedUS$10 million, much of which the United States required to be invested in that country, plus annual payments ofUS$250,000; with those payments made, as well as for the purchase of the French company assets, the Canal Zone was formally turned over by Panama on May 4, 1904, when American officials reopened the Panama City offices of the canal company and raised the American flag.This marked the beginning point for U.S. excavation and construction which concluded in August 1914 with the opening of the canal to commercial traffic.
By order of PresidentTheodore Rooseveltunder the Panama Canal Acts of 1902 and 1904 thesecretary of Warwas made supervisor of canal construction and the secondIsthmian Canal Commissionmade the governing body for the Canal Zone.Under the Panama Canal Act of May 24, 1912, PresidentWoodrow Wilsonissued Executive Order 1885, January 27, 1914, effective April 1, 1914, abolishing the previous governance and placing it under the direction of the Secretary of War, with the entity designated as The Panama Canal.This Executive Order charged the Governor of the Panama Canal with "completion, maintenance, operation, government and sanitation of the Panama Canal and its adjuncts and the government of the Canal Zone".A number of departments were specified in the order, with others to be established as needed by the Governor of the Panama Canal with approval of the President and under the supervision of the Secretary of War.Defense of the canal was the responsibility of the Secretary of War who retained control of troops with provisions for presidential appointment of an Army officer in wartime who would have "exclusive authority over the operation of the Panama Canal and the Government of the Canal Zone".The executive order noted in closing "that the supervision of the operations of the Panama Canal under the permanent organization should be under the Secretary of War", thus establishing the essentially military arrangement and atmosphere for the canal and Canal Zone.
On September 5, 1939, with the outbreak of war in Europe Executive Order 8232 placed governance of the Canal and "all its adjuncts and appurtenances, including the government of the Canal Zone" under the exclusive control of the Commanding General, Panama Canal Department for the duration.The US Secretary of War stated that the air forces and anti-aircraft artillery covering the Canal Zone must be greatly augmented. Prior to 1939, the equipment of the Air Corps was generally outdated and of questionable value. Thereafter, air defense of the Zone underwent major expansions.
Effective July 1, 1951, under an act of Congress dated September 26, 1950 (64 Stat. 1038), governance of the Canal Zone was through the Canal Zone Government with the canal operated by the Panama Canal Company until 1979 when the Panama Canal Commission took over its governance.The entire structure was under the control of the United States government with thesecretary of the Armyappointing the Panama Canal Company board of directors and the Canal Zone Government was entirely financed by the company.The office of thegovernor of the Panama Canal Zonewas not usually a stepping stone to higher political office but a position given to US Army active duty general officers of theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers.The governor was also president of the Panama Canal Company. The Canal Zone had its own police force (theCanal Zone Police), courts, and judges (theUnited States District Court for the Canal Zone).
Everyone worked for the company or the government in one form or another. Residents did not own their homes; instead, they rented houses assigned primarily based on seniority in the zone. When an employee moved away, the house would be listed and employees could apply for it. The utility companies were also managed by the company. There were no independent stores; goods were brought in and sold atstores run by the company, such as acommissary, housewares, and so forth.
In 1952, the Panama Canal Company was required to go on a break-even basis in an announcement made in the form of the president's budget submission to the United States Congress.Though company officials had been involved in previewing the requirement, there was no disclosure in advance, even though theBureau of the Budgetdirected that the new régime become effective on March 1.The company organization was realigned into three main divisions; Canal Activity and Commercial Activity with the Service Activity providing services to both operating activities at rates sufficient to recover costs.Rate adjustments in housing and other employee services would be required and a form of valuation, compared to a property tax, would be used to determine each division's contribution to the Canal Zone Government.
The Panama Canal Zone was located within the territory ofPanama, consisting of thePanama Canaland an area generally extending 5 miles (8.0 km) on each side of the centerline, but excludingPanama CityandColón, which would have otherwise fallen in part within the limits of the Canal Zone. When artificial lakes were created to assure a steady supply of water for the locks, those lakes were included within the zone. Its border spanned two of theprovinces of Panama:ColónandPanamá. The total area of the territory was 553 square miles (1,430 km).
Although it was under the control of the United States, the zone did not have formal boundary restrictions on Panamanians transiting to either half of their country, or for any other visitors. APanama Canal fencedid exist along the main highway, although it was only a safety measure to separate pedestrians from traffic, and some of the Canal Zone territory was beyond it. In Panama City, if there were no protests interfering with movement, one could enter the Zone simply by crossing a street.
In 1903, the United States, having failed to obtain fromColombiathe right to build a canal across theIsthmus of Panama, which was part of that country, sent warships in support of Panamanian independence from Colombia. This being achieved, the new nation of Panama ceded to the Americans the rights they wanted in theHay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty. Over time, though, the existence of the Canal Zone, a political exclave of the United States that cutPanamageographically in half and had its own courts, police, and civil government, became a cause of conflict between the two countries. Major rioting and clashes occurred on May 21, 1958, andon November 3, 1959. Demonstrations occurred at the opening of the Thatcher Ferry Bridge, now known as theBridge of the Americas, in 1962 andserious riotingoccurred in January 1964.This led to the United States easing its controls in the Zone. For example, Panamanian flags were allowed to be flown alongside American ones. After extensive negotiations, the Canal Zone ceased to exist on October 1, 1979, in compliance with provisions of theTorrijos–Carter Treaties.
In 1989, the United Statesinvaded Panamawith virtually all of the military operations taking place within the Canal Zone includingOperation Acid Gambit, theRaid at Renacer Prisonamong many others including operations at the entrance, exit and all of the locks.
During its construction and into the 1940s, the labor force in the Canal Zone (which was almost entirely publicly employed) was divided into a "gold" roll (short for payroll) classification, and a "silver" roll classification. The origins of this system are unclear, but it was the practice on the 19th-century Panama Railroad to pay Americans in US gold and local workers in silver coin.Although some Canal Zone officials compared the gold roll to military officers and the silver roll to enlisted men, the characteristic that determined on which roll an employee was placed was race. With very few exceptions, American and Northern European (White) workers were placed on the gold roll, and Black and southern European workers on the silver roll. Black Americans were generally not hired; Black employees were from the Caribbean, often fromBarbadosandJamaica. White Americans seeking work as laborers, which were almost entirely silver roll positions, were discouraged from applying.In the early days of the system, bosses could promote exceptional workers from silver to gold, but this practice soon ceased as race came to be the determining factor.As a result of the initial policy, there were several hundred skilled black and Southern European workers on the gold roll.In November 1906, Chief EngineerJohn Stevensordered that most black people on the gold roll be placed on the silver roll instead (a few remained in such roles as teachers and postmasters); the following month, the Canal Commission reported that the 3,700 gold roll employees were "almost all White Americans" and the 13,000 silver roll workers were "mostly aliens".On February 8, 1908, President Roosevelt ordered that no further non-Americans be placed on the gold roll. After Panamanians objected, the gold roll was reopened to them in December 1908; however, efforts to remove non-American workers from the gold roll continued.
Until 1918, when all employees began to be paid in U.S. dollars, gold roll employees were paid in gold, in American currency, while their silver roll counterparts were paid in silver coin, initiallyColombian pesos. Through the years of canal construction, silver roll workers were paid with coins from various nations; in several years, coin was imported from the United States because of local shortages. Even after 1918, both the designations and the disparity in privileges lingered.
Until the end of World War II in 1945, the Panama Canal Zone operated under aJim Crowsociety, where the category of "gold" represented White, U.S. workers and the title "silver" represented the non-White, non-U.S. workers on the Zone. There were even separate entrances for each group at the Post Office. After the strike of 1920, the black workers were banned from unionizing by the U.S. Canal officials. As a result, the Panama Canal West Indian Employees Association (PCWIEA) was created in 1924 to fill this vacuum of representation.The PCWIEA did not garner much support on the Canal Zone because of its restrictive membership policies and the haunting of the 1920 strike and its damaging consequences. However, in 1946, the PCWIEA summoned theCongress of Industrial Organizations(CIO) for representation and the establishment of a local union. In July of that year, the West Indian and Panamanian workers received a charter for Local 713 of the United Public Workers of America (UPWA)-CIO.Together, with the assistance of U.S. representatives for the Local, these black workers came together to secure material benefits for their livelihoods. They organized together in order to pose a serious threat to the Jim Crow system which resulted, however, only in minimal gains. American segregationist policies persisted as it related to housing and schooling.In the end, ties to communism destroyed the UPWA and as a result Local 713 collapsed.Nevertheless, Frank Gurridy describes this as diasporization, "diaspora in action, or the ways Afro-diasporic linkages were made in practice".In the case of the Panama Canal Zone, these linkages were made not only by the West Indian and Panamanian communities, but also between the Afro descended workers on the Zone and African Americans, on the mainland of the U.S., through the transnational struggle to dismantle the system of Jim Crow.
Canal Zone housing was constructed in the early days of construction, as part of Stevens' plans. Housing constructed for couples and families consisted of structures containing four two-story apartments. The units had corrugated-iron roofs, and were uniformly painted gray with white trim. Constructed of pineclapboard, they had long windows and high ceilings, allowing for air movement. Better-paid employees were entitled to more square feet of housing, the unit in which allowances were expressed. Initially, employees received one square foot per dollar of monthly salary. Stevens from the first encouraged gold roll employees to send for their wives and children; to encourage them to do so, wives were granted a housing allowance equal to their husband's, even if they were not employees. Bachelors mostly resided in hotel-like structures. The structures all had screened verandas and up-to-date plumbing. The government furnished power, water, coal for cooking, ice for iceboxes, lawn care, groundskeeping, garbage disposal, and, for bachelors only, maid service.
In the first days of the Canal Zone, theIsthmian Canal Commission(ICC) provided no food, and workers had to fend for themselves, obtaining poor-quality food at inflated prices from Panamanian merchants. When Stevens arrived in 1905, he ordered food to be provided at cost, leading to the establishment of the Canal Zone Commissary. The functions of the Commissary quickly grew, generally against the will of the Panamanian government, which saw more and more goods and services provided in the Zone rather than in Panama. Merchants could not compete with the commissary's prices or quality; for example, it boasted that the meat it sold had been refrigerated every moment from the Chicago slaughterhouse to the moment it was passed to the consumer. By 1913, it consisted of 22 general stores, 7 cigar stores, 22 hostels, 2 hotels, and a mail-order division. It served high-quality meals at small expense to workers and more expensive meals to upper-echelon canal employees and others able to afford it.
The commissary was a source of friction between the Canal Zone and Panama for several other reasons. It dominated sales of supplies to passing ships.The commissary was off limits to individuals who were not in the U.S. Military, employees of the Panama Canal Company, the Canal Zone Government and/or their dependents. This restriction was requested by Panama for the benefit of Panamanian storekeepers, who feared the loss of trade. Panama had laws restricting imports from the Canal Zone. Goods from the commissary would sometimes show up in Panamanian stores and in vendor displays, whereComisariatogoods were deemed of high quality.Additionally, there were separate commissaries on the U.S. military installations that were available only to the U.S. military personnel and their dependents. Employees and dependents of the Panama Canal Company/Government were not allowed to use the commissaries, exchanges, package stores, theaters, gas stations, and other facilities on the U.S. military installations.
The treaty with Panama made no mention of the nationality status of the native inhabitants of the Zone.Pursuant to the principles of international law, they becamenon-citizen U.S. nationalsunless they elected to retain their previous nationality. Children of non-citizen U.S. nationals generally acquired the status of their parents.
For most nationality purposes under U.S. federal law, the Canal Zone was by considered to be foreign territory and the status persons acquired at birth was governed by Sec. 1993 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (Act of February 10, 1855, 10 Stat. 604),which granted them statutory U.S. citizenship at birth but only if their fathers were, at the time of the child's birth, U.S. citizens who had previously resided in the United States. In 1934, the law was amended to allow for citizenship to be acquired at birth through either parent if the parent was a U.S. citizen who had previously resided in the United States. In 1937, a new law (Act of August 4, 1937, 50 Stat. 558)was enacted to provide for U.S. citizenship to persons born in the Canal Zone (since 1904) to a U.S. citizen parent without that parent needing to have been previously resident in the United States.The law is nowcodifiedunder title 8, section 1403.It not only grants statutory and declaratory born citizenship to those born in the Canal Zone after February 26, 1904, of at least one U.S. citizen parent, but also does so retroactively for all children born of at least one U.S. citizen in the Canal Zone before the law's enactment.
WhenJohn McCain, born in the Zone in 1936 to U.S. parents, became the2008 Republican Party presidential nominee, there was minor debate over whether he met the presidency's"natural-born Citizen"requirement. The U.S. Senate passed a non-binding resolution that he did.
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the Panama Canal Zone include:
Frederick Wisemanmade the filmCanal Zone, which was released and aired on PBS in 1977.
The Canal Zone was generally divided into two sections, the Pacific side and the Atlantic side, separated by Gatun Lake.
A partial list of Canal Zone townships and military installations:
On October 1, 1979, the day thePanama Canal Treatyof 1977 took effect, most of the land within the former Canal Zone was transferred to Panama. However, the treaty set aside many Canal Zone areas and facilities for transfer during the following 20 years. The treaty specifically categorized areas and facilities by name as "Military Areas of Coordination", "Defense Sites" and "Areas Subject to Separate Bilateral Agreement". These were to be transferred by the U.S. to Panama during certain time windows or simply by the end of the 243-month treaty period. On October 1, 1979, among the many such parcels so designated in the treaty, 35 emerged asenclaves(surrounded entirely by land solely under Panamanian jurisdiction).In later years, as other areas were turned over to Panama, nine more enclaves emerged.
At least 13 other parcels each were enclosed partly by land under the absolute jurisdiction of Panama and partly by an "Area of Civil Coordination" (housing), which under the treaty was subject to elements of both U.S. and Panamanian public law. In addition, the 1977 treaty designated numerous areas and individual facilities as "Canal Operating Areas" for joint U.S.–Panama ongoing operations by a commission. On the effective date of the treaty, many of these, includingMadden Dam, became newly surrounded by the territory of Panama. Just after noon local time on December 31, 1999, all former Canal Zone parcels of all types had come under the exclusive jurisdiction of Panama.
The 44 enclaves of U.S. territory that existed under the treaty are shown in the table below.
The Panama Canal Zone issued its own postage stamps from 1904 until October 25, 1978.During the early years, United States postage stamps overprinted "Canal Zone" were used. After a few years, accredited Canal Zone stamps were issued.
After a transition period during whichPanamatook over the administration of postal service, Canal Zone stamps became invalid.
The two-letter state abbreviation for mail sent to the Zone was CZ.
Amateur radio licenses were issued by the United StatesFederal Communications Commissionand carried the prefix KZ5, the initial 'K' indicating a station under American jurisdiction.TheAmerican Radio Relay Leaguehad a Canal Zone section, and the Canal Zone was considered anentityfor purposes of theDX Century Club. Contacts with Canal Zone stations from before repatriation may still be counted for DXCC credit separate from Panama.The KZ5amateur radio prefixhas been issued to license operators since 1979 but today has no special meaning.
9°07′04″N79°43′13″W﻿ / ﻿9.11778°N 79.72028°W﻿ /9.11778; -79.72028