Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

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In 1901 the United States and the United Kingdom signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. This agreement nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 and gave the United States the right to create and control a canal across Central America, connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

The British, recognizing their diminishing influence in the region and cultivating friendship with the United States as a counterweight to Germany, stepped aside in the treaty to permit a solely U.S.-run canal. This occurred under President Theodore Roosevelt. The treaty was negotiated under the table by United States Secretary of State, John Hay, and the British Ambassador to the United States, Lord Pauncefote.

This treaty, though it handed all canal-building power over to the United States, provided that all nations will be allowed to freely use and access the canal and that the canal should never be taken by force.