What was the importance of the panama canal to american imperialism?

The U.S. wanted to avoid going around South America and insure less time for U.S. Naval ships to travel and protect U.S. possessions around the world

classical republicanism, also known as civic humanism, is a form of republicanism  developed in the renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of  classical  antiquity, especially such  classical  writers as aristotle, polybius, and cicero.