DS as president, signed “T. Roosevelt,” one page, 8 x 10, February 26, 1904. President Theodore Roosevelt authorizes and directs “the Secretary of State to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to my proclamation of the convention between the United States 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.” Signed boldly at the conclusion by Roosevelt. In fine condition, with a small paperclip impression to the top edge. Accompanied by a Pach Bros. portrait of Roosevelt from 1900, and by a stapled 19-page booklet containing the proclamation for the “Convention Between the United States and the Republic of Panama for the Construction of a Ship Canal to Connect the Waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.”
Signed by Roosevelt on the very day that the ‘Isthmian Canal Convention’ was proclaimed, this superb document helped officially set into motion the construction of the Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. Cutting across the isthmus of Panama, the establishment of the canal revolutionized maritime trade in the region, effectively reducing ship travel time from the Atlantic to the Pacific by about 5 months and travel distance by some 8,000 nautical miles. Among Roosevelt’s greatest achievements, the Panama Canal, dubbed by author David McCullough as the ‘moonshot of its era,’ represents one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken and was the first entree on the ‘Seven Wonders of the Modern World’ list, which was compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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