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Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8.5 x 11, April 3, 1871. President Grant authorizes and directs the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to “my full power to Stephen A. Hurlbut, Minister Resident to Colombia, to conclude and sign a Convention for extending the time fixed for the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty, between the two countries, signed on the 26th of January 1870.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by U. S. Grant. In fine condition.
This document relates to the Arosemena, Sánchez-Hurlbut Treaty, signed on January 26, 1870, which was a major early effort by the United States to secure the right to build an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama. That same year, President Grant established an Interoceanic Canal Commission, which would investigate the possible routes suggested by German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt for a canal across Central America.
During this period, Panama was not an independent nation but a province of Colombia, so any canal project required Colombia’s formal consent. Negotiated by U.S. Minister Stephen A. Hurlbut and Colombian diplomats Pablo Arosemena and Carlos R. Sánchez, the treaty followed a previous canal agreement that the U.S. Senate had rejected. Had it been finalized, it would have granted the United States broad authority to construct, control, and protect a canal route through Colombian territory—dramatically expanding American strategic influence and laying the groundwork for faster global trade and naval movement.
Although the treaty ultimately failed, it stood as one of the earliest serious attempts to secure a Panama Canal and helped shape the diplomatic path that culminated in the successful 1903 treaty, which finally allowed the canal to be built. The Panama Canal would go on to become one of the most important engineering achievements in world history—revolutionizing global commerce by cutting thousands of miles off maritime routes and solidifying the United States as a major strategic power.
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