1) Reading the passage, explain why you think people say that Theodore Roosevelt "took" Panama.
2) How did Alfred Mahan's determination to achieve a powerful U.S. Navy influence the construction of the Panama Canal?
3) Why do you think American cartoonist Thomas Nast questioned whether Ferdinand de Lesseps, the constructor of the Panama Canal, was a canal digger or a grave digger?
4) Why did Mark Hanna make a speech in support of the Panama Canal instead of the Nicaragua Passage?
5) Making inferences, tell why John Stevens made more progress building the Panama Canal than Ferdinand de Lesseps.
6) Reading the following, explain why you think the treaty that John Hay signed was essential for the American imperialism of Panama.
7) Many say that George Washington Goethals went down in history for being the man who accomplished one of the greatest feats of engineering and construction, the Panama Canal. What evidence makes that statement valid?
8) What diseases halted construction on the canal before Dr. William Gorgas could stop them and why?
9) What role did Philippe Bunau-Varilla play in the construction and control of the Panama Canal?
10) Why was promoting the Panama Canal a difficult task for William Nelson Cromwell?