[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Panama sold us the land too, if I'm not mistaken...

Yes, you are correct. We paid Panama and private property owners for every square inch of that land.

[pageonetoo]

...The secretary of state hastily negotiated the Hay-Herrán Treaty in 1903, a proposed agreement that would have given the U.S. the necessary lease rights for canal construction in the Panama....

...In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty, which provided for the return of the canal to Panama in the year 2000.!!!