Was America Justified In Making Hawaii Justified

America 's annexation of the Philippines was not a necessary decision. Supporters of the annexation believed it would benefit America economically. However, Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan stated in a speech, "It is not necessary to own people in order to trade with them" (Document D). Trade with the Philippines could have been accomplished without occupying them. In addition, pro-imperialists exhibited a patronizing attitude toward the Filipinos; for instance, Albert J. Beveridge described the Philippines as "ours to save" (Document B). Many

Now, we’re involved in a possible conflict with Spain.  It is possible that we might engage in an epic naval battle with the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. Hawaiian Islands provide us with the perfect coal station for our Navy and supply ships on the way to the Philippines. It is in America’s best interest to annex Hawaii as soon as possible.  If we do not act quickly, the British might annex Hawaii.  There’s no time to waste. The Filipinos have been fighting against the Spanish rule for some time now. Are we going to help them achieve their independence from Spanish rule?  If we deem that they’d be better of being independent, we will assist them.  But, if we deem that they’d benefit from being annexed, we might go ahead and add the Philippines to our oversea possessions. Like with the Hawaiians, the Filipinos will benefit from the Christianization of their islands. With the influx of American values, cultures, and language, we will be doing any country annexed a favor by allowing them into our nations cultural and economic prosperity.

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

Americans were also driven by greed. Commercialism was a major factor in their foreign policy. Americans knew that by engaging in the same practices that the successful Europeans had, they could also gain money and prestige. Keeping in mind that they wanted to seem superior to the Europeans, they conjured up these fake rationalizations as to why they chose to take over these small island countries. The truth was, many Americans had invested in these countries, and the

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

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

“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.

unlawfully gained Hawaii as a territory due to one major contributing factor, the Spanish-American War. High tensions and treaties failing, the U.S. sought to use Hawaii as a strategic gain on Spanish, by creating a strong military base in the Pacific. “Advocates argued that Hawaii was needed to support American soldiers in the Philippines“(Moss 18). It is required for the people of the native land to consent to being annexed into a country by Joint Resolution, but nevertheless, the appropriate procedures were ignored. These procedures were not met because of the potential economic, strategic, and imperial gain. After illegally annexing Hawaii by Joint Resolution and violating the U.S. Constitution, Hawaii ultimately became a controlled point in the U.S.’s stride for imperialism

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.

Enlightenment ideas helped the Americans fight against British rule and create a new nation. With the fight for their new nation came the Declaration of Independence. This document is based on the beliefs of John Locke. John’s teachings mostly focused on self-government and natural rights. John Locke Believed that everyone was created equal with the same three natural rights. The Declaration of Independence argued for natural rights and equality as well. The Declaration of Independence was influenced by Locke’s idea of Equal rights and self-government. They liked the idea of a Democracy, the rule of the people. The United States’ Declaration of Independence states. The American colonist separated from Britain because King George 3rd was not governing the people correctly. For example, he created “Taxation without Representation”. Taxation without Representation is when the American Colonist were being taxed unfairly. John Locke believed the government was there to protect the people, and if they were not being protected they have the right to rebel against the ruler. This is exactly what the American colonist did. The document by the colonies declaring separation from Britain, stated. John Locke’s beliefs of self-government influenced the colonies to rebel and become it’s own

either before or after his departure for Hawaii regarding attempts at achieving annexation in the Hawaiian Nation.” (3) Stevens had many reasons of his own to support annexation. When he arrived in the islands, he saw many great economic and military advantages to having Hawaii annexed as a state. He realized that Hawaii in itself was a growing industry, soon to be had as a major sugar producer in the world at the time. Plus, Hawaii offered a huge strategic position, lying in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, which could serve as a docking point for many U.S. warships. Stevens himself felt that he was doing good in helping an expanding America grow to even greater proportions by backing annexation in the islands.

America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.