The Conquest Of Hawaii Essay

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

These religious radicals started a domino affect of the Hawaiian religion. The Hawaiians destroyed and burned their feared idols. The people who still held on the old belifes were murdered. This goes to show how a religion can either hold a society together or tear it apart. Henry Obookiah was born in Hawaii. His family was murdered in a war between neighboring islands. He decided to find a new life in America, so he hopped aboard a trading ship and landed in New England. Obookiah stayed with a Christian family and went to a foreign mission school. Obookiah was taught to be a good Christian gentlemen. He told Americans about the religious chaos in Hawaii saying: "Hawaii gods; the wood- they burn. Me go home, put em in a fire, burn ‘em up. They no see, no hear, no anything. We make ‘em. Our god, He make us"(The Hawaiian Islands P. 30). Christian New Englanders were amazed by Obookiah’s enlightenment in America. New England Christians were motivated to spread the faith into Hawaii. The first American settlers were Christian missionaries from New England. The Missionaries came to the Hawaiian shores aboard the Thaddeus on March 31, 1819. The Americans were treated very well by the natives. They were eager to learn from the missionaries. Without the strict supervision of their former gods and superstitions, Hawaiians were celebrating new freedom. They drank, they partied,

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

The first missionaries arrived to the Hawaiian Islands in 1820 and made a lot of changes to Hawaii when they arrived, both good and bad. When the missionaries arrived to the islands they thought of the natives as savages. They all needed to become converts to followers of Christ, drop their own beliefs and pick up new ones. They also sought out to “civilize” the natives, by teaching them how to read and write, sing and Christianize them. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston were the first of many missionaries to arrive in Hawaii. The Queen at the time, Kaahumanu accepted the arrival of the missionaries from New England to teach their religion. Although there were many positive affects of missionary that came to the Hawaiian Islands, there

It stated that by “allowing ownership it opened the door for the foreigners to purchase nearly all of it.” By doing that the Hawaiians were making money by having the foreigners buy it since they were the only ones with enough money. They are trying to make as much profit as they possibly can from the foreigners and forgetting about the people. For the “chiefs or commoners to receive a portion of the land, however, they needed to prove that they actually cultivated farmed those for a living.” In addition to what i said before, not all were glad about this news, “It is not right, that when we wish to buy our own lands that he should sell them to foreigners”. The people even said that they were also “running up the price of the land away up to $250.00 an acre for taro land”. They sold their lands for extremely high prices and are only negotiating with the foreigners so they are becoming more

After discovering how the island was conspired into this seizure, Cleveland recommended that the monarchy should be restored. In a message to the Congress, specifically addressing Minister Wallis, Cleveland urged to restore the condition of the island as it was previous to the “lawless landing” of the forces of the United States at the Honolulu. He proposed that “the past should be buried” and the “restored Government should resume its authority” without being affected. But Congress did not act upon this command. In 1894, Hawaii came under Stanford Dole, who, declared himself president of the Republic without much consent from the natives. The queen was placed under house arrest held for the guilt of treason. A fine of $5000 was also placed on her. In 1896, the Republican Party called for the annexation of Hawaii in the presidential election. In 1990, Hawaii legitimately became a U.S. territory under William McKinley, out of fear that it may be annexed by Japan. He also feared that he lacked majority support for the annexation in the Senate. Eventually, several immigrant laborers from all over the world joined the sugar business. Today Hawaii comprises of people belonging to China, Japan, and Portuguese from Madeira and the Azores including Puerto Rican’s, Koreans and Filipinos. This resulted in Hawaii

“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.

The circumstances surrounding the annexation of Hawaii are often left unsaid and remain unknown by citizens of the United States. Hawaii was first annexed into the United States of America in 1898 after white settlers refused to give up control of the Hawaiian government. However, previously President Cleveland opposed annexation and retracted the annexation treated proposed to the Senate. Cleveland supported a restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy and used his administration to oppose annexation. He used James Blount to discover the views of the Hawaiian natives on annexation,

In 1848, An event called the “Mahele” changed the traditional Hawaiian system of land tenure from communal use to private ownership (Kameeleihiwa 3). Events in the past of Hawaii, like the Mahele of 1848, left a devastating mark in Hawaii’s history; It helped eventually lead to the overthrow of the monarch and still affects today’s problems in Hawaii.

Some similarities between Kamehameha and Jefferson are that they are both kind and cared for others. Kamehameha cared for his people therefore, created a kapu “ The Law of the Splintered Paddle”. This law punished others that had stolen or murdered anyone be killed. The sandalwood trade was important for Hawaii because it gave the Hawaiians more goods from Europe, United States, and China, the Hawaiian economy was now one of the trade and gain.

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 U.S. government has proposed many different methods to which the Hawaiian Kingdom could reform and has recently proposed the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act more commonly known as the Akaka Bill. This bill however a stride it may be to the reformation of a Hawaiian Kingdom, is flawed and shouldn’t be accepted by the Native Hawaiian people. Although this may represent a great milestone in Hawaiian history it may be the cause of more harm than resolution.

The Hawaiians were further depicted as "thieves" like the rest of the "people in Polynesia," and plagued with the barbaric accusation of committing infanticide. These so called "facts" were enough for the Euro-American forces to send out missionaries to regulate the Hawaiian people and take over their land and all their practices. (Stannard, 381- 417)

The exact nature of the encounters between Captain James Cook and the Polynesian natives of Hawaii as well as all interactions and exchanges between Europeans and native Polynesian peoples of the Pacific while Cook was exploring the islands of Hawaii and after has been investigated by anthropologists and historians for many years. Captain Cook died at the hand of Polynesian natives while he was at Hawaii in 1779. Marshall Sahlins stated that Cook was seen as the god Lono during the celebration of the Makahiki festival taking place at the time of Cook’s visit. Gananath Obeyesekere, in his noted work, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, argues

The missionaries seemed like they were trying very hard to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity and it partially worked. They also built some churches, schools and farms and at the schools they built