Convention Between the US And Panama (Panama Canal), 1903
When Colombia refused to allow the United States to build a canal across the
Panama isthmus, in 1903, the US intervened to dissect Panama from the rest of
Columbia, set up the Republic of Panama, and established the following convention.
For the Construction of a Ship Canal to Connect the Waters of the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans. Signed at Washington, November 18, 1903.
Ratification advised by the Senate, February 23, 1904.
Ratified by the President, February 25, 1904.
Ratified by Panama, December 2, 1903.
Ratifications exchanged at Washington, February 26, 1904.
Proclaimed, February 26, 1904.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation
Whereas, a Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama
to insure the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama to connect the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was concluded and signed by their respective
Plenipotentiaries at Washington, on the eighteenth day of November, one thousand nine
hundred and three, the original of which Convention, being in the English language, is
word for word as follows:
Isthmian Canal Convention
The United States of America and the Republic of Panama being desirous to insure the
construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama to connect the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans, and the Congress of the United States of America having passed an act
approved June 28, 1902, in furtherance of that object, by which the President of the
United States is authorized to acquire within a reasonable time the control of the
necessary territory of the Republic of Colombia, and the sovereignty of such territory
being actually vested in the Republic of Panama, the high contracting parties have
resolved for that purpose to conclude a convention and have accordingly appointed as their
plenipotentiaries,
The President of the United States of America, John Hay, Secretary of State, and
The Government of the Republic of Panama, Philippe Bunau - Varilla, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama, thereunto specially empowered by
said government, who after communicating with each other their respective full powers,
found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:
Article I
The United States guarantees and will maintain the independence of the Republic of
Panama.
Article II
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity, the use, occupation
and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance,
operation, sanitation and protection of said Canal of the width of ten miles extending to
the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Canal to be
constructed; the said zone beginning in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low
water mark and extending to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to a
distance of three marine miles from mean low water mark with the proviso that the cities
of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the
boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant. The
Republic of Panama further grants to the United States in perpetuity, the use, occupation
and control of any other lands and waters outside of the zone above described which may be
necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and
protection of the said Canal or of any auxiliary canals or other works necessary and
convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the
said enterprise.
The Republic of Panama further grants in like manner to the United States in
perpetuity, all islands within the limits of the zone above described and in addition
thereto, the group of small islands in the Bay of Panama, named Perico, Naos, Culebra and
Flamenco.
Article III
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power and authority
within the zone mentioned and described in Article II of this agreement, and within the
limits of all auxiliary lands and waters mentioned and described in said Article II which
the United States would possess and exercise, if it were the sovereign of the territory
within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by
the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power or authority.
Article IV
As rights subsidiary to the above grants the Republic of Panama grants in perpetuity,
to the United States the right to use the rivers, streams, lakes and other bodies of water
within its limits for navigation, the supply of water or waterpower or other purposes, so
far as the use of said rivers, streams, lakes and bodies of water and the waters thereof
may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation
and protection of the said Canal.
Article V
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity, a monopoly for the
construction, maintenance and operation of any system of communication by means of canal
or railroad across its territory between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Article VI
The grants herein contained shall in no manner invalidate the titles or rights of
private land holders or owners of private property in the said zone or in or to any of the
lands or waters granted to the United States by the provisions of any Article of this
treaty, nor shall they interfere with the rights of way over the public roads passing
through the said zone or over any of the said lands or waters unless said rights of way or
private rights shall conflict with rights herein granted to the United States in which
case the rights of the United States shall be superior. All damages caused to the owners
of private lands or private property of any kind by reason of the grants contained in this
treaty or by reason of the operations of the United States, its agents or employees, or by
reason of the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said
Canal or of the works of sanitation and protection herein provided for, shall be appraised
and settled by a joint Commission appointed by the Governments of the United States and
the Republic of Panama, whose decisions as to such damages shall be final and whose awards
as to such damages shall be paid solely by the United States. No part of the work on said
Canal or the Panama railroad or on any auxiliary works relating thereto and authorized by
the terms of this treaty shall be prevented, delayed or impeded by or pending such
proceedings to ascertain such damages. The appraisal of said private lands and private
property and the assessment of damages to them shall be based upon their value before the
date of this convention.
Article VII
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States within the limits of the cities of
Panama and Colon and their adjacent harbors and within the territory adjacent thereto the
right to acquire by purchase or by the exercise of the right of eminent domain, any lands,
buildings, water rights or other properties necessary and convenient for the construction,
maintenance, operation and protection of the Canal and of any works of sanitation, such as
the collection and disposition of sewage and the distribution of water in the said cities
of Panama and Colon, which, in the discretion of the United States may be necessary and
convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the
said Canal and railroad. All such works of sanitation, collection and disposition of
sewage and distribution of water in the cities of Panama and Colon shall be made at the
expense of the United States, and the Government of the United States, its agents or
nominees shall be authorized to impose and collect water rates and sewage rates which
shall be sufficient to provide for the payment of interest and the amortization of the
principal of the cost of said works within a period of fifty years and upon the expiration
of said term of fifty years the system of sewers and water works shall revert to and
become the properties of the cities of Panama and Colon respectively, and the use of the
water shall be free to the inhabitants of Panama and Colon, except to the extent that
water rates may be necessary for the operation and maintenance of said system of sewers
and water.
The Republic of Panama agrees that the cities of Panama and Colon shall comply in
perpetuity, with the sanitary ordinances whether of a preventive or curative character
prescribed by the United States and in case the Government of Panama is unable or fails in
its duty to enforce this compliance by the cities of Panama and Colon with the sanitary
ordinances of the United States the Republic of Panama grants to the United States the
right and authority to enforce the same.
The same right and authority are granted to the United States for the maintenance of
public order in the cities of Panama and Colon and the territories and harbors adjacent
thereto in case the Republic of Panama should not be, in the judgment of the United
States, able to maintain such order.
Article VIII
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all rights which it now has or
hereafter may acquire to the property of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama
Railroad Company as a result of the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Columbia
to the Republic of Paname over the Isthmus of Panama and authorizes the New Panama Canal
Company to sell and transfer to the United States its rights, privileges, properties and
concessions as well as the Panama Railroad and all the shares or part of the shares of
that company; but the public lands situated outside of the zone described in Article II of
this treaty now included in the concessions of both said enterprises and not required in
the construction or operation of the Canal shall revert to the Republic of Panama except
any property now owned by or in the possession of said companies within Panama or Colon or
the ports or terminals thereof.
Article IX
The United States agrees that the ports at either entrance of the Canal and the waters
thereof, and the Republic of Panama agrees that the towns of Panama and Colon shall be
free for all time so that there shall not be imposed or collected custom house tolls,
tonnage, anchorage, lighthouse, wharf, pilot, or quarantine dues or any other charges or
taxes of any kind upon any vessel using or passing through the Canal or belonging to or
employed by the United States, directly or indirectly, in connection with the
construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the main Canal, or
auxiliary works, or upon the cargo, officers, crew, or passengers of any such vessels,
except such tolls and charges as may be imposed by the United States for the use of the
Canal and other works, and except tolls and charges imposed by the Republic of Panama upon
merchandise destined to be introduced for the consumption of the rest of the Republic of
Panama, and upon vessels touching at the ports of Colon and Panama and which do not cross
the Canal.
The Government of the Republic of Panama shall have the right to establish in such
ports and in the towns of Panama and Colon such houses and guards as it may deem necessary
to collect duties on importations destined to other portions of Panama and to prevent
contraband trade. The United States shall have the right to make use of the towns and
harbors of Panama and Colon as places of anchorage, and for making repairs, for loading,
unloading, depositing, or transshipping cargoes either in transit or destined for the
service of the Canal and for other works pertaining to the Canal.
Article X
The Republic of Panama agrees that there shall not be imposed any taxes, national,
municipal, departmental, or of any other class, upon the Canal, the railways and auxiliary
works, tugs and other vessels employed in the service of the Canal, store houses, work
shops, offices, quarters for laborers, factories of all kinds, warehouses, wharves,
machinery and other works, property, and effects appertaining to the Canal or railroad and
auxiliary works, or their officers or employees, situated within the cities of Panama and
Colon, and that there shall not be imposed contributions or charges of a personal
character of any kind upon officers, employees, laborers, and other individuals in the
service of the Canal and railroad and auxiliary works.
Article XI
The United States agrees that the official dispatches of the Government of the Republic
of Panama shall be transmitted over any telegraph and telephone lines established for
canal purposes and used for public and private business at rates not higher than those
required from officials in the service of the United States.
Article XII
The Government of the Republic of Panama shall permit the immigration and free access
to the lands and workshops of the Canal and its auxiliary works of all employees and
workmen of whatever nationality under contract to work upon or seeking employment upon or
in any wise connected with the said Canal and its auxiliary works, with their respective
families, and all such persons shall be free and exempt from the military service of the
Republic of Panama.
Article XIII
The United States may import at any time into the said zone and auxiliary lands, free
of custom duties, imposts, taxes, or other charges, and without any restrictions, any and
all vessels, dredges, engines, cars, machinery, tools, explosives, materials, supplies,
and other articles necessary and convenient in the construction, maintenance, operation,
sanitation and protection of the Canal and auxiliary works, and all provisions, medicines,
clothing, supplies, and other things necessary and convenient for the officers, employees,
workmen and laborers in the service and employ of the United States and for their
families. If any such articles are disposed of for use outside of the zone and auxiliary
lands granted to the United States and within the territory of the Republic, they shall be
subject to the same import or other duties as like articles imported under the laws of the
Republic of Panama.
Article XIV
As the price or compensation for the rights, powers and privileges granted in this
convention by the Republic of Panama to the United States, the Government of the United
States agrees to pay to the Republic of Panama the sum of ten million dollars
($10,000,000) in gold coin of the United States on the exchange of the ratification of
this convention and also an annual payment during the life of this convention of two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in like gold coin, beginning nine years
after the date aforesaid.
The provisions of this Article shall be in addition to all other benefits assured to
the Republic of Panama under this convention.
But no delay or difference of opinion under this Article or any other provisions of
this treaty shall affect or interrupt the full operation and effect of this convention in
all other respects.
Article XV
The joint commission referred to in Article VI shall be established as follows:
The President of the United States shall nominate two persons and the President of the
Republic of Panama shall nominate two persons and they shall proceed to a decision; but in
case of disagreement of the Commission (by reason of their being equally divided in
conclusion), an umpire shall be appointed by the two Governments who shall render the
decision. In the event of the death, absence, or incapacity of a Commissioner or Umpire,
or of his omitting, declining or ceasing to act, his place shall be filled by the
appointment of another person in the manner above indicated. All decisions by a majority
of the Commission or by the umpire shall be final.
Article XVI
The two Governments shall make adequate provision by future agreement for the pursuit,
capture, imprisonment, detention and delivery within said zone and auxiliary lands to the
authorities of the Republic of Panama of persons charged with the commitment of crimes,
felonies, or misdemeanors without said zone and for the pursuit, capture, imprisonment,
detention and delivery without said zone to the authorities of the United States of
persons charged with the commitment of crimes, felonies and misdemeanors within said zone
and auxiliary lands.
Article XVII
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States the use of all the ports of the
Republic open to commerce as places of refuge for any vessels employed in the Canal
enterprise, and for all vessels passing or bound to pass through the Canal which may be in
distress and be driven to seek refuge in said ports. Such vessels shall be exempt from
anchorage and tonnage dues on the part of the Republic of Panama.
Article XVIII
The Canal, when constructed, and the entrances thereto shall be neutral in perpetuity,
and shall be opened upon the terms provided for by Section I of Article three of, and in
conformity with all the stipulations of, the treaty entered into by the Governments of the
United States and Great Britain on November 18, 1901.
Article XIX
The Government of the Republic of Panama shall have the right to transport over the
Canal, its vessels and its troops and munitions of war in such vessels at all times
without paying charges of any kind. The exemption is to be extended to the auxiliary
railway for the transportation of persons in the service of the Republic of Panama, or of
the police force charged with the preservation of public order outside of said zone, as
well as to their baggage, munitions of war and supplies.
Article XX
If by virtue of any existing treaty in relation to the territory of the Isthmus of
Panama, whereof the obligations shall descend or be assumed by the Republic of Panama,
there may be any privilege or concession in favor of the Government or the citizens and
subjects of a third power relative to an interoceanic means of communication which in any
of its terms may be incompatible with the terms of the present convention, the Republic of
Panama agrees to cancel or modify such treaty in due form, for which purpose it shall give
to the said third power the requisite notification within the term of four months from the
date of the present convention, and in case the existing treaty contains no clause
permitting its modifications or annulment, the Republic of Panama agrees to procure its
modification or annulment in such form that there shall not exist any conflict with the
stipulations of the present convention.
Article XXI
The rights and privileges granted by the Republic of Panama to the United States in the
preceding Articles are understood to be free of all anterior debts, liens, trusts, or
liabilities, or concessions or privileges to other Governments, corporations, syndicates
or individuals, and consequently, if there should arise any claims on account of the
present concessions and privileges or otherwise, the claimants shall resort to the
Government of the Republic of Panama, and no to the United States for any indemnity or
compromise which may be required.
Article XXII
The Republic of Panama renounces and grants to the United States, the participation to
which it might be entitled in the future earnings of the Canal under Article XV of the
concessionary contract with Lucien N. B. Wyse, now owned by the New Panama Canal Company
and any all other rights or claims of a pecuniary nature arising under or relating to said
concession, or arising under or relating to the concessions to the Panama Railroad Company
or any extension or modification thereof; and it likewise renounces, confirms and grants
to the United States, now and hereafter, all the rights and property reserved in the said
concessions which otherwise would belong to Panama at or before the expiration of the
terms of ninety - nine years of the concessions granted to or held by the above mentioned
party and companies, and all right, title and interest which it now has or may hereafter
have, in and to the lands canal, works, property and rights held by the said companies
under said concessions or otherwise, and acquired or to be acquired by the United States
from or through the New Panama Canal Company, including any property and rights which
might or may in the future either by lapse of time, forfeiture or otherwise, revert to the
Republic of Panama under any contracts or concessions, with said Wyse, the Universal
Panama Canal Company, the Panama Railroad Company and the New Panama Canal Company.
The aforesaid rights and property shall be and are free and released from any present
or reversionary interest in or claims of Panama and the title of the United States thereto
upon consummation of the contemplated purchase by the United States from the New Panama
Canal Company, shall be absolute, so far as concerns the Republic of Panama, excepting
always the rights of the Republic specifically secured under this treaty.
Article XXIII
If it should become necessary at any time to employ armed forces for the safety or
protection of the Canal, or of the ships that make use of the same, or the railways and
auxiliary works, the United States shall have the right, at all times and in its
discretion, to use its police and its land and naval forces or to establish fortifications
for these purposes.
Article XXIV
No change either in the Government or in the laws and treaties of the Republic of
Panama shall, without the consent of the United States, affect any right of the United
States under the present convention, or under any treaty stipulation between the two
countries that now exists or may hereafter exist touching the subject matter of this
convention.If the Republic of Panama shall hereafter enter as a constituent into any other
Government or into any union or confederation of states, so as to merge her sovereignty or
independence in such Government, union or confederation, the rights of the United States
under this convention shall not be in any respect lessened or impaired.
Article XXV
For the better performance of the engagements of this convention and to the end of the
efficient protection of the Canal and the preservation of its neutrality, the Government
of the Republic of Panama will sell or lease to the United States lands adequate and
necessary for the naval or coaling stations on the Pacific coast and on the western
Caribbean coast of the Republic at certain points to be agreed upon with the President of
the United States.
Article XXVI
This convention when signed by the Plenipotentiaries of the Contracting Parties shall
be ratified by the respective Governments and the ratifications shall be exchanged at
Washington at the earliest date possible.
If faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention in
duplicate and have hereunto affixed their respective seals.
Done at the City of Washington, the 18th day of November in the year of our Lord,
nineteen hundred and three.
John Hay. [seal.]
P. Bunau Varilla. [seal.]
And whereas the said Convention has been duly ratified on both parts, and the
ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Washington, on the
twenty - sixth day of February, one thousand nine hundred and four.
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
of America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same
and every article and clause thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the
United States and the citizens thereof.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United
States of America to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this twenty - sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord one thousand nine hundred and four, and of the Independence of the United States the
one hundred and twenty - eighth. [seal]
Theodore Roosevelt. By the President: John Hay, Secretary of State.
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