Spooner Amendment
Okay kiddo, imagine you and your friend are playing with some toys. Your friend has a cool new toy that you really want to play with, but your friend says that it's their toy and you can't play with it. You feel sad and upset, but then your mom comes in and tells your friend that they have to share their toys with you.
That's kinda like what the Spooner Amendment is about! A long time ago, the United States wanted to buy some land from a country called Colombia so they could build a canal that would make it easier and faster for ships to travel from one side of the world to the other. But Colombia didn't want to sell their land to the US.
So, the US decided to help a group of people in Colombia who wanted to become independent from their government. They gave these rebels guns and helped them start a little war against their own government. Eventually, the rebels won and they formed a new country called Panama.
The US then asked Panama if they could build their canal on their land instead and Panama said yes! But Colombia was really upset about this because they felt like they were tricked and bullied into giving away their land. So, the US made a deal with Colombia called the Spooner Amendment.
The Spooner Amendment said that the United States would pay Colombia $25 million dollars for the land that they wanted to buy for the canal, even though they didn't actually get the land. This made Colombia feel a little bit better about the whole situation and helped the US build their canal in Panama.
So, just like how your mom made your friend share their toy with you, the Spooner Amendment helped the US make things right with Colombia and build their canal in Panama.
That's kinda like what the Spooner Amendment is about! A long time ago, the United States wanted to buy some land from a country called Colombia so they could build a canal that would make it easier and faster for ships to travel from one side of the world to the other. But Colombia didn't want to sell their land to the US.
So, the US decided to help a group of people in Colombia who wanted to become independent from their government. They gave these rebels guns and helped them start a little war against their own government. Eventually, the rebels won and they formed a new country called Panama.
The US then asked Panama if they could build their canal on their land instead and Panama said yes! But Colombia was really upset about this because they felt like they were tricked and bullied into giving away their land. So, the US made a deal with Colombia called the Spooner Amendment.
The Spooner Amendment said that the United States would pay Colombia $25 million dollars for the land that they wanted to buy for the canal, even though they didn't actually get the land. This made Colombia feel a little bit better about the whole situation and helped the US build their canal in Panama.
So, just like how your mom made your friend share their toy with you, the Spooner Amendment helped the US make things right with Colombia and build their canal in Panama.