Imperialism In Hawaii Speech

Manifest destiny is the U.S.’s idea that god wants them to expand all the way to the ocean. They did, but they set their eyes on Hawaii, Cuba, and the Philippines. At the time, Cuba was under Spanish control. Cuba wished to be independent from the Spanish. America had interest in Cuba due to economic interests. Not every American wanted to have Cuba join, neither did Cuba want to join. The Spanish were doing cruel things to the natives. The U.S. went to war against the Spanish. Americans did not appreciate that troops had to go to war to free another country. Hawaii before annexation was a harbor for ships. The U.S. wanted Pearl Harbor for the Navy. When American settlers came, they devastated the economy there. In addition, they brought diseases

American Hawaii Hawaii is known for its beautiful beaches, it’s nice year-round weather, and its culture. Thousands of vacationers come to Hawaii each year to get away from the stressful city and relax. But do they know how cruel the Americans were to the natives? Do they know how we corrupted their culture and their religion? Do they know how Hawaii really became a state? Probably not. When most people think of Hawaii, they think of happy Hawaiian babes hula dancing and palm trees swaying in the warm breeze. Hawaii has still held on to many of their traditions although they were invaded by Americans. But you have to go to a museum to see their old way of life. Hawaii is now populated mostly by Americans.

The annexation of Hawaii was an important event in the history of the world. It is still not easy for the Hawaiians to accept the fact that America had taken over a land 2500 miles away from the West Coast. In 1917 Hawaii was considered the 50th state supported by the islanders after a plebiscite. Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani was overthrown because of the support of the United States army as well as naval forces to a group of businessmen belonging to the sugar and pineapple industry. The Armed forces of the United States were ordered to provide this support on the directives of the minister of the United States to Hawaii. In reality they were missionaries who had been welcomed for several years by the

In 1899, U.S. Senator George F. Hoar said “… under the Declaration of Independence you cannot govern a foreign territory, a foreign people, another people than your own…”4 There was a lot of arguing and contemplation about whether it was okay or not to govern another nation and I agree that it isn’t right. Abraham Lincoln said, “no man is good enough to govern another man without their consent.”5 In my opinion I think that imperialism failed because it was wrong for them to do it in the first place and it created tension between America and other

“Thus it appears that Hawaii was taken possession of by the United States forces without the consent or wish of the government of the islands, or of anybody else so far as shown, except the United States Minister.” President Cleveland’s words remind me of how cruel America took over Hawaii. Hawaii had been a Monarchy for many years, just as the United States has been a republic many years, yet the United States selfishly overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy just so they could have a naval base in the Pacific Ocean. Throughout this research paper I will support my claim of why I think it was not right that Hawaii was illegally annexed.

On July 1898, Hawaii was officially annexed to the US after a valiant struggle. Ever since the Reciprocity Treaty was canceled out by the McKinley Tariff, many people have been yearning for annexation, such as sugar planters. Queen Liliuokalani, who was the last monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, was overthrown by Americans whose main goal was to make Hawaii a US territory. Queen Liliuokalani and her brother, King Kalakaua, opposed the annexation. However, the foreigners, known as the Committee of Safety, eventually overthrew the monarchy. When the US finally took over Hawaii, there were many diverse opinions as to whether the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was justified. The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was not justified, because Queen

When Theodore Roosevelt went to Colombia he asked the government of Colombia if he could build a canal through their land so the US could import items more efficiently. The Colombians said no, but Roosevelt having a plan B went to Panama and encouraged them to break free from Colombian rule. Panama, influenced by the President of the United States at the time did break free and said yes for the US to build a canal through their country. They gained Hawai’i through trapping the Queen of Hawai’i in her palace with local militia while the farm owners slowly sold their land to the US government. By the time the queen was released, it was too late. All of Hawai’i was owned by the US government now. This showed their selfish ambitions because if the US did not get what they wanted through diplomacy then they will resort to cheap tricks. Such as keeping the queen in her palace while the farmers sold all their land, and persuading Panama to separate from

After the Civil War, the United States struggled to keep up with other countries in the world. While figuring out how fix the corruption in the American government, the other countries were practicing imperialism. Imperialism is a policy by which strong nations extend their political, military, and economic control over weaker territories. Realizing that we needed to make a change, the United States started working towards the goal of practicing imperialism as well. To do this, our first few targets were Hawaii and Alaska. In 1867, we sought to buy Alaska because they had resources that we wanted, such as lumber and minerals. This was known as Seward’s Folly after the Secretary of State William Seward. In 1898, our desire of Hawaii was fulfilled when they agreed to annexation. However, this was not without struggle. King Kalakaua of Hawaii wanted the white planters to vote, but when he died, his sister, Queen Liliuokalani reversed his decision. She took away the power of whites, which eventually led to her being overthrown with the help of the United States Marines. The Hawaiian people opposed annexation, but when Mckinley became president, Hawaii was declared American territory. Sanford B. Doyle, a white plantation owner who asked for the annexation, became the first governor of Hawaii. This addition into American territory drastically influenced our economy.

Gaining complete dominance within a society can be viewed as a lion taking control over its land. These lions can be regarded as a powerful empire, as they live among other preys fighting for supremacy. In History it has been said that “A nation that did not expand would not survive” (American Passages, 529). Imperialism is a prime example of a group of prey fighting for sovereignty, within this land we come across the lions, otherwise known as the nations who control the prey and victimize them to gain complete dominance. Nations such as Japan, United Kingdome, United States, Germany and France were all living amongst themselves in this word fighting for the ultimate position in the game of imperialism. These leading nations took it upon themselves to find undeveloped nations and control certain aspects; they managed to do this because of their strong military base, as well as a stable economy. Although imperialism has been viewed in a negative way, many have seen positives aspects emerging from colonization. These include building roadways, canals and even railways for the underdeveloped nations; other examples include giving them an education system, and stabilizing their economy. That being said, the negative elements outgain the positive, these mother nations took advantage of their daughter nations, causing them to work for cheap labor and neglecting their natural born rights. These prevailing nations took it upon themselves to create a world

Hawaii’s annexation, was it legal and fair to the natives of the island? The proposal that Hawaii reached Statehood by a ‘just’ manner has been inaccurate and presents a false interpretation of the facts. Though seized through the era of imperialism, Hawaii remained as one of the few territories unclaimed and consequently was seized swiftly. The eventual statehood of Hawaii was produced with wrongful acts because of imperial greed. The annexation of Hawaii is an unjust act because of the circumstances surrounding the illegal annexation, clear wishes of the natives, and unlawful gain of territory.

better. In 1959, Hawaii became part of the United States of America. This did wonders

John L. Stevens came to the island of Oahu in September 1889, acting as the U.S. Minister to Hawaii. While his mission in Hawaii was not clearly stated, his political actions on the islands clearly showed that Stevens thought that the annexation of Hawaii was proper and inevitable.

In 1897, Petitions led by Queen Liliuokalani who was jailed for trying to stop annexation of Hawaii wanted to get rid of the annexation. The petitions were signed by 21,269 Native Hawaiians more than half of the 39,000 Hawaiians living in Hawaii. The petition was just a buildup of what the Hawaiians had been through with a sugar trade inviting a movement of Japanese to want to work in the trade, leading the U.S. to use Hawaii as a naval base to gain more power around the world, so they would not expect a Japanese’s invasion. The annexation of Hawaii with the sugar trade, Japanese, and the U.S. involvement is a real result of bringing the Spanish-American war in to effect.

The people of Hawaii and other Pacific Island Nation groups have experienced great injustice from their colonial powers and the acts of imperialism. Lands were seized, cultural practices banned, language lost, and people were even forced to move away from their homes for the purpose of bomb testing. The United States and other countries abroad sent out representatives to do their work for them; in return their future actions would be justified in describing the Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders as savages that need to have wider powers enforced upon them; thus resulting in a tangled web of political mythologies.

and volcanoes, and unique food like no other. I know what you all may be thinking: “why Hawaii?”