11 Facts About Panama Canal Zone

1.

Panama Canal Zone, simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, that existed from 1903 to 1979.

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2.

Panama Canal Zone's agreement was repudiated by the Jackson administration, which wanted rights to build a canal.

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3.

The Panama Canal Zone excluded Panama City and Colon, but included four offshore islands, and permitted the United States to add to the zone any additional lands needed to carry on canal operations.

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4.

The office of the governor of the Panama Canal Zone was not usually a stepping stone to higher political office but a position given to US Army active duty general officers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

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5.

Panama Canal Zone organization was realigned into three main divisions; Canal Activity and Commercial Activity with the Service Activity providing services to both operating activities at rates sufficient to recover costs.

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6.

Until the end of World War II in 1945, the Panama Canal Zone operated under a Jim Crow society, where the category of "gold" represented white, U S workers and the title "silver" represented the non-white, non-U.

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7.

Canal Zone housing was constructed in the early days of construction, as part of Stevens' plans.

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8.

Treaty with Panama made no mention of the nationality status of the native inhabitants of the Zone.

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9.

However, for most nationality purposes, the Canal Zone was considered to be foreign territory and the status persons acquired at birth was governed by Sec.

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10.

In 2008, during a minor controversy over whether John McCain, born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936, was legally eligible for the presidency, the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution that McCain was a "natural-born Citizen" of the United States.

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11.

Canal Zone was generally divided into two sections, the Pacific side and the Atlantic side, separated by Gatun Lake.

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