The U.S. Annexes Hawaii

Hawaii before the 1890s British explorer James Cook “discovered” the islands and named them the Sandwich Islands in 1778 The isles became an important harbor & supply depot for British & American explorers & whalers Eurasian diseases devastated the indigenous population throughout the 1800s

Many missionaries from all branches of Christianity settled in the islands in the 1800s, & a large minority of natives converted Throughout this time, a native monarchy more or less controlled Hawaii, though there was always much foreign influence King Kamehameha III became Hawaii’s first Christian king in 1819

From Kingdom to U.S. Territory In 1887, white Hawaiians forced King Kalakaua to sign a constitution stripping him of most of his power His sister Queen Liliʻuokalani succeeded the throne in 1893 A Committee of Safety – composed of pro-American annexationists – overthrew her in ’93 & proclaimed Hawaii a republic

Queen Liliʻuokalani The Queen was forced out of power when the provisional government took over Hawaii She moved to Washington DC briefly to lobby the U.S. to restore her, & became friends with President Cleveland In 1895, pro-royal forces rebelled but were defeated The Queen was arrested & sentenced to hard labor, but the sentence was soon dropped

Debate in the U.S. President Grover Cleveland was a friend of Queen Liliʻuokalani & demanded her reinstatement Cleveland issued the Blount Report which concluded the overthrow was illegal Congress, a year later, issued their own report (Morgan Report) that contradicted Cleveland

A New Policy In 1896, Republican William McKinley won the presidency (Cleveland was a Democrat) & the issue was renewed McKinley was much more open to annexation, and in 1897 the US Secretary of State met with representative of the republic In July 1898, Hawaii officially became a U.S. territory (it would become the 50th state in 1959)

So....who cares?!?! Some argue that the annexation of Hawaii began a new age of U.S. imperialism. But how so? Hawaiian sugar was extremely profitable, & 5 American families eventually owned all sugar production and, basically, the whole island by 1890 In the 1800s, hundreds of thousands of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, & Filipinos were “imported” to work the sugar fields