The Annexation Of Hawaii And The United States

According to the information present in the speech given by a man named, Sanford J Dole, the Americans imperializing Hawai’i was a constructive motion. This is due to the fact that throughout the speech, Dole informs his audience on the benefits both the Hawaiians and Hawai’i would gain through Hawai’i being a territory of the United States(US). The speech was given on June 10th, 1900, at Iolani Palace, after Dole was elected to be the governor of the Territory of Hawai’i. As the speech is an original document, it is a primary source. Based on the information provided in the speech, the message Dole is trying to convey is that the day Hawai’i became a territory of the US, is one of the most important days in Hawaiian history. This is because

In the beginning, Hawaii was unknown to any humans. Polynesians eventually came across its islands, and decided to make it their home. In the early days, each island was ruled by a chief, and many times the islands were in conflict with each other. Centuries like this passed, but then "in 1782, [Queen Lili'uokalani's] cousin Kamehameha set out to conquer and unite the islands". Thirteen years later, in 1795, Kamehameha

Before, the land belonged to the gods and not to the Hawaiians. After the Mahele, working class people like the maka’ainana could own land. The laws were changing because when the Mahele came about, new rules were made. Laws were changing to help Hawaii be more wealthy. Another example of a political impact is how lands were being distributed (Hio). Lands are being distributed unfairly because when Kamehameha III distributed the land, the Hawaiians have to work for the people who own the land. The Kuleana Act of 1850 allowed the Hawaiians to own land, but there were certain requirements to own land. Those requirements were that they would have to survey the land, present the claim with the Land Commission and file claim by 1854. People could claim someone’s land if they didn’t live on it for 10 years. This was called the Alien Act of 1850. The Hawaiians that owned land, lost it because they couldn’t pay the taxes, they did not occupy, or care for their land. Hawaiians didn’t have enough money, they lacked knowledge/experience with the law, and missed the 1854

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

The annexation of Texas was a path that many Texans wanted. Nearly ninety percent of Texans wanted to become part of the United States. “People hadn’t come to Texas to become part of the British Empire; most were particularly incensed by the British insistence on emancipation of the slaves; responding to public sentiment, the Texas Senate demanded that President Houston give them a full accounting of his dealings with Great Britain”. Before annexation, The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation that existed for nearly ten years. The annexation process was proposed by John Tyler. Unfortunately, President Martin Van Buren struck down the annexation of Texas out of fear that this would expand slave territory and ensue war with Mexico. The Treaty of Annexation, Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexican-American War and Joint Resolution of Congress all impacted the annexation process.

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.

In the late 1890's, the United States experiences imperialistic feelings rise again. The country as a whole feared our resources running out, so there was an increase in foreign trade. The intellectual justification for the idea of the New Manifest Destiny was social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest. In Latin America, the United States sided with Venezuela against Britain over border disputes; we were willing to go to war with Britain on the matter and we were protecting our own interests there. In 1898, France and Britain annexed Hawaii to the United States, which was an

The Spanish-American war gave the push that the American government needed to make a final decision over Hawaii. The Hawaiin Islands were known as the

During the United States of America’s imperialism phase, they used four main excuses to take over a country or a large piece of land, for example Hawaii. These four excuses were to uplift, educate, civilize, and to christianize the people that inhabited their targeted land. This can be seen mostly when the U.S. tried to annex the Philippines, even though it was against their will.

| The United States and Europe claimed political power over the Polynesian Islands which led to the United States overthrowing the individual monarchies of the islands.

Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai 'i. Kihei, Hawaiʻi: Koa, 2009. Print.

When Queen Lili’uokalani was the Queen and she was a part of the overthrow that happened in the Hawaiian Islands. In January 24, 1895 the queen signed a document and

Money is power, and the US got a lot of both from industrialization, but it just wasn’t enough. U.S business owners pushed their government to conquer new lands, to have new markets to sell goods in. Hawaii in the late 1800s, was already tied to the U.S through economic treaties, but was still it’s own country, but as American businessmen increasingly sought to control Hawaii’s natural resources and wealth, they pushed for the American government to annex the islands and bring them under their control. “These business people wanted Hawaii annexed to the U.S. This would get rid of taxes on goods from Hawaii and make a lot of money for Dole and his cohorts.” Sanford B Dole was a prominent businessmen and founder of the Dole Company, he was fearful of the new Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani from stripping foreign influence from the government, but after seizing her

In the 1820’s Missionaries have been starting to visit Hawaii inspired by Henry Obookiah who the first Hawaiian Missionary. Henry Obookiah was a Hawaiian missionary that told the English about the Hawaiian religion and how it works, and it convinced the English to go and spread their religion. But not everything ended well according to the plan for the Hawaiians. People only notice the negative effects that the missionaries cause the Hawaiians to go through, but they miss the benefits that the missionaries gave the Hawaiians. Although the missionaries have brought negative effects to the Hawaiians, they also have given the Hawaiians some benefits with the new religion, new language, and new technology.

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.