Of the early achievements of the Roosevelt administration first mention may be made of the Panama Canal. The experiences of the Spanish War, the new responsibility of the na tion due to the annexation of Porto Rico and the independence of Cuba under our guardian ship, made the building of the canal a matter of immediate concern. The United States soon after the war took up with England the abro gation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and in 1901-02, by the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty such abrogation was provided for, and definite basis was thus made'for the construction of the canal as an American enterprise. There was difficulty in coming to terms with Colombia, within whose bounds lay the route for the canal; but Panama opportunely revolted from Colombia and a treaty was made with the new state, whereby the United States became pos sessed of the canal strip. Preliminary work was begun soon after occupation, but it was some time before excavation was begun in earnest. The work was carried to successful completion in 1914 under the direction of army officers, who showed great engineering skill and administrative capacity. The expense was about $400,000,000. Some notion of the value and significance of the undertaking may be gathered from the fact that by the use of this waterway a voyage from New York to Japan was shortened some 4,000 miles, and from New York to San Francisco, 8,000 miles.
The annexation of Porto Rico, the Philip pines and Hawaii brought new problems to the American government. Although the limits of the United States had been extended at various times in the past, the annexed territory — if we except Alaska — had been contiguous to the old, and had been largely unpeopled; as a con sequence, such acquisitions did not bring up very serious or complex problems of adjustment. The slavery question, it is true, had in the earlier days complicated the task of establish ing territorial government; but on the whole, from the time when the Ordinance of 1787 was adopted, there had been no difficult question as to the form of government to be set up on the new land, or of the relationship that should exist between inhabitants and the government at Washington; it was taken for granted that the territory, in accordance with the principles of the Ordinance of 1787, should be ultimately absorbed into the Union, and have all the rights and privileges of States. In the case of the new "insular possessions no such expectation could well be entertained, and to add to the difficulties of the task, some little time elapsed before the Philippine Islands were brought safely under the sway of American authority. Because of the uncertainties of the Philippine situation, representative government was not accorded the people at first; but in 1907 an as sembly met and from that time on acted with a commission, appointed by the President of the United States, as a legislature of the colony.
In 1916 Congress passed an act declaring that the war with Spain was not a war of aggres sion and that it had never been the intention of the United States permanently to retain the sovereignty of the Philippines; a further step, therefore, was taken toward the establishment of full self-government in the islands by giv ing the people a right to elect a second legisla tive chamber and at the same time the Philip pine commission was entirely given up. Soon after annexation (April 1900), civil govern ment was set up in Porto Rico; the act of estab lishment provides for a governor appointed by the President, an executive council of 11 mem bers appointed in the same manner, six of them to be heads of administrative departments and not less than five natives of the island, and an elective assembly to act with the council as the legislature. Hawaii's government has, from the beginning of American rule, been similar to that of the old well-known territorial type; the President appoints the governor, secretary and the judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts; the legislature is composed of two houses, both chosen by the people. The condition of Cuba after the surrender of Spanish sovereignty de manded attention; for some three years the island remained in the charge of a military governor representing the United States, but in 1902 a constitution drafted by a convention went into effect, the authority of the United States was withdrawn and the new republic entered upon the interesting but difficult task of self-government. Once since the with drawal, the United States has found itself com pelted to re-enter the island and restore order; but after doing so has restored authority to the Cubans.
The annexation of Porto Rico and of the islands in the Pacific, the development of trade, the growing complexity and intimacy of inter national relationships, cast in some measure a new light on America's position in the world and her responsibilities; it was not uncommonly said that America had become a world power. Probably America had been in every sense a world power for a hundred years, but still it is true that the new "possessions" and the new tasks called the people to a wider outlook on world politics and made it necessary to consider seriously what part should be played by the United States among the nations. It is prob ably true also that with the beginning of the new century the average man was less provin cial and more inclined than before to speculate on the complexity of the world's affairs and the perplexing problems begotten by backward countries, trade ambitions and general tenden cies toward imperial expansion.