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proclaimed freedom from Spain on November 10, 1821. A meeting in Panama City on November 28 took place. This is the day which is celebrated as the official date of independence. Discussion followed if Panama should remain part of Colombia or unite with Peru. Panama became part of Colombia. With the addition of Ecuador to the liberated area, the whole country became known as Gran Colombia. Panama sent a force of 700 men to join Bol var in Peru, where the war of liberation continued.

The constitution that Bol var had drafted for Bolivia was put forward by him to be adopted in Gran Colombia. The country was divided over the proposal that a president would serve for life. Panama joined other regions in petitioning Bol var to assume l powers until a convention could meet. Panama announced its union with Gran Colombia as an autonomous area with special trading privileges until the convention was held.

In 1826 chose Panama as the site for a congress of the recently liberated Spanish colonies. Bol var made a serious attempt to unite the Spanish American republics.

His purpose was to secure the independence of the former colonies from renewed attacks by Spain and its allies. Bol var sought Britain’s protection. He did not invite the U.S. Bol var agreed though when the governments of Colombia, Mexico, and

Central America invited the United States to send observers. President John Quincy Adams told his delegates to stay neutral.

The Congress of Panama, in 1826, was attended by four American

Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Peru. The “Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation” included a provision that if a member state changed its form of government, it would be excluded from the confederation and could be readmitted only with the unanimous consent of all other members. The treaty was never became effective. Three failed attempts to separate the isthmus from Colombia occurred between 1830 and 1840.

The California Gold Rush and the Railroad

Discovery of gold in 1848 increased traffic in the isthmusgreatly. In 1847 a group of New York rich men organized the Panama Railroad Company. A railroad contract was obtained in 1850. The first through train from the Atlantic to the Pacific side ran on the completed track on January 28, 1855. The gold rush traffic, even before the completion of the railroad, restored Panama’s prosperity. Between 1848 and 1869, about 375,000 persons crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 225,000 crossed in the opposite direction. Prices for food and services were greatly raised, producing huge profits from meals and housing. The railroad also created a new city and port. The town that sprang up to accommodate the railroad

soon becamethe second largest in the country. United States citizens named it Aspinwall, after one of the founders of the Panama Railroad Company, but the Panamanians named it Col n, in honor of Columbus. The name Col n won.

Throughout the nineteenth century, governments and private investors in the United States, Britain, and France sometimes showed interest in building a canal across the Western Hemisphere. Several sites were considered, but from

the start the ones in Nicaragua and Panama received the most serious attention. President Andrew Jackson sent Charles A. Biddle in the 1830s to investigate both routes. Colombia continued to express interest in negotiating with the United States on building a canal. A treaty was signed in 1846 between the two countries. The treaty removed the existing restrictive tariffs and gave the United States and

its citizens the right of free transit over any road or canal that might be constructed in the isthmus. In addition, the United States guaranteed the neutrality of the isthmus and Colombia’s sovereignty over it. Called the Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty of 1846, it was actually ratified and became effective in 1848. Because the canal interests of Britain and the United States had continued to clash, particularly in Nicaragua, Britain and the United States sought to ease tensions by entering into the ClaytonBulwer Treaty of 1850. The governments agreed specifically that neither would acquire rights to or construct a Nicaraguan canal without the participation of the other. This was extended to any canal or railroad across Central America, to include Mexico and Panama. In effect, since neither government was then willing or able to begin a canal, the treaty was an instrument of neutrality.

Colombia’s attempt to attract canal interest finally brought French attention to bear on Panama. A company was formed in 1879 to construct a sea-level

canal generally along the railroad route. Ferdinand de Lesseps, headed the company.. The company also purchased most of the stock of the Panama Railroad Company, which, however, continued to be managed by Americans.

Earth moving did not start until 1881. As work progressed, engineers judged that a sea-level canal was impracticable. De Lesseps could not be convinced until work had gone on for six years. Actual labor on a lock canal did not start until late in 1888, by which time the company was in serious financial difficulty. At the peak of its operations the company employed about 10,000 workers. In January 1889 all work stopped ,when the company was bankrupt. Despite this, an estimated two-fifths of the excavation necessary for the eventual canal hadalready been completed. Many headquarters and hospital buildings were finished. Some of the machinery left on the site was still

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