Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal

Above are two political carttons written during TR's presidency. One of TR's most famous accomplishments of his presidency was the successsful consturciton of the Panama Canal. On the way to this achievement, TR hit various roadblacks. Firstly came disputes with Britain over the fact that, according to the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, the US could not legally secure contorl over this kind of route. However, this was quickly overcome with the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in 1901. TR decided to build the canal through Panama. The US acquired all the land that was necessary except for the land that reached into Colombia. Colombians reguarded their isthmian strip as valuable and would not give it up for the price of $10 million, as well as an extra $250,000 a year. This angered Roosevelt, as he did not want to pay more to the Colombians, (as illustrated in the 2nd cartoon.) TR was determined, however, to "make the dirt fly." As shown in the first cartoon, he would go in with his big stick of power and a shovel and build the canal singlehandedly if that's what it took. This was not necessary. Panama wanted to make sure the canal plans were not moved to Nicaragua. A small revolution occurred and the US, of course, sent in troops to stop the Colombians form intervening. Panama basiclly tore itself from the side of Colombia. The new prime minister of Panama signed over to TR all of the land necessary to contruct the canal. The Panama Canal increased the mobility of the United States navy. It also mad the defense of recent acquisitions, such as Puetro Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines, much easier.

Occupy Wall Street and... Bust those trusts!

Since mid September, hundreds of protestors have been seen marching in prominent cities worldwide, especially in New York City. This group calls itself "Occupy Wall Street" and its aims are to elminate corporatre greed and influence in the nation's government. The demonstrators call for a better banking system as well as a removal of corruption and graft from modern day "democracy". Sound familiar? During the Progressive Era, individuals called muckrakers brought governmental flaws, especially the extreme dominance of trusts and huge corporations, into the public light. The progressives as a whole used democracy to fix democracy. Teddy Roosevelt, the original trust buster, led the way to smashing huge corporations.  Presidents William Taft and Woodrow Wilson also busted nearly 100 trusts each. With ginormous trusts out of the way, the dismal boom and bust economy was eliminated and the economic quality of life overall improved greatly. Today, nearly 100 years later, American citizens are still fighting against the same controlling industries. Demonstations have even been sparked in our own city of Scranton. In this video, political commentator Michael Moore expresses his favorable views on the Occupy Wall Street protests and encourages communities to join in the crusade.