The Lesseps company offered its assets to the United States at a price of $40 million. The commission first decided on a route through Nicaragua, but later reversed its decision. In 1899 the US Congress created an Isthmian Canal Commission to examine the possibilities of a Central American canal and to recommend a route. The wars in Europe and the thirsts for the control of kingdoms in the Mediterranean Sea simply put the project on permanent hold. A survey of the isthmus was ordered and subsequently a working plan for a canal was drawn up in 1529. After realizing the riches of Peru, Ecuador, and Asia, and counting the time it took the gold to reach the ports of Spain, it was suggested c.1524 to Charles V, that by cutting out a piece of land somewhere in Panama, the trips would be made shorter and the risk of taking the treasures through the isthmus would justify such an enterprise. The history of the Panama Canal goes back to 16th century. Costumes worn for the cakewalk often included large, exaggerated bowties, suits, canes, and top hats.
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One common form of cakewalk dance involved couples (one male and one female, with their arms linked at the elbows) lined up in a circle, dancing forward alternating a series of short hopping steps with a series of very high kicking steps. The dance was invented as a satirical parody of the formal European dances preferred by white slave owners, and featured exaggerated imitations of the dance ritual, combined with traditional African dance steps. The sayings "Easy as a piece of cake" and "It's a cakewalk" originated from this dance. The dance’s name comes from the cake that would be awarded to the winning couple. The dance would be held at the master’s house on the plantation and he would serve as judge. In many instances the Cakewalk was performance, and even competition. Couples lined up to form an aisle, down which each pair would take a turn at a high-stepping promenade through the others. Much bowing and bending were characteristic of the dance, which was more a performance than anything else. A send-up of the rich folks in the "Big House," the cakewalk mocked the aristocratic and grandiose mannerisms of southern high-society. Its origins in slavery and the plantation south, the Cakewalk was the sole organized and even condoned forum for servants to mock their masters. Cory is a piano scholar that studies Bach and other great composers.
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