Identification And Controlling The Panama Canal Zone

History Internal Assessment Was the United States justified in its authoritative manner of obtaining and controlling the Panama canal zone? __________________ James Chen Mr. Hughes Word Count: 2181 Number of Pages: 9 Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources: This investigation aims to address the question: Was the United States justified in its authoritative manner of obtaining and controlling the Panama canal zone? To address this question, this investigation will examine three critical points: the use of the United States military in securing Panama’s independence, the subsequent Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty, and the economic infrastructure of the canal zone. This investigation will analyze a book, Panama†¦show more content†¦However, this source is limited in its purpose in that the sources revealing the aforementioned subtleties are likely to be inaccurate, as they have been gathered over time, and may have been compromised or misinterpreted. The second source which will be analyzed in depth is the document â€Å"What Roosevelt Took: The Economic Impact of the Panama Canal, 1903-1937,† authored by Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu in 2006. The origin of this source is va luable because Maurer is a Harvard Business School professor, while Yu is an economic historian, the pair have written their own book, The Big Ditch, on this field, indicating that they are knowledgeable on this topic. In addition, the publication date, 2006, indicates that the authors have had ample time to observe and analyze the structure of the canal zone, as well as gather any relevant statistics from government records. However, the origin is limited in that neither author is a professional expert in politics, which plays a key factor in the economic system