Hawaiian annexation

       The Hawaiian islands were formally annexed by the United States in 1898, following a Joint Resolution by Congress. But even before the islands were annexed, Americans were influencing Hawaiian culture and politics.

        In 1778, James Cook became the first European explorer to land on the Hawaiian islands, and the influence of white settlers quickly began to influence Hawaiian politics. Less than two decades after Cook landed, in 1795, the Hawaiian islands were unified under the monarch King Kamehameha. The absolute monarchy was later replaced with a constitutional one, and later by an aristocracy (a republic where only certain voters were enfranchised).

        During the early 1800's the Hawaiian government was forced to accept treaties by several major powers including Britain and France that gave the powers special trade relations with the islands. In 1842, Daniel Webster (then secretary of state) told Hawaiian ministers in Washington of America's interest in the islands. Webster even went so far as to suggest what might be considered a precursor of the open door policy, asking for no power to be given special perks or benefits in Hawaii.

        Liliuokalani, or the last queen of Hawaii took power after her brother died, and in 1887 rewrote the Hawaiian constitution to give herself more power. The queen was deposed after Americans under the leadership of Samuel Dole in 1893. Minister Stevens of the US state department recognized the provisional government and named Hawaii a US protectorate. A treaty to annex the Hawaiian islands was submitted to Congress by President Harrison, but the required 2/3 majority was not met. 

        Luckily for Hawaii, Cleveland replaced Harrison and quickly withdrew the treaty and put special investigator James Blount in charge of the Hawaiian coup. It was found that Minister Stevens had done wrong, and the provisional government was forced to lower the American flag from government buildings. As it turned out, a majority of Hawaiians did not favor annexation.

        However the leadership in Washington changed again with the election of McKinley, who favored annexing Hawaii. The president quickly submitted another treaty of annexation to the senate, which prompted political action by Hawaiian nationalist groups. The groups started a "Petition Against Annexation" and collected more than 20,000 signatures. The hope was to show the American people that Hawaiians did not want to be part of America. The petition and political efforts of both Hawaiian nationalist groups and Queen Liliuokalani paid off, the Senate could not obtain the 2/3 majority it needed to ratify the annexation treaty.

         With the treaty defeated it appeared that Hawaii would remain sovereign, until the explosion of the Maine and the plunging of the US into the Spanish-American war. Hawaii was considered valuable to naval operations in the Pacific and so a Joint Resolution was passed to annex Hawaii (Joint Resolutions require a simple majority in both the House and the Senate, so the necessary support was found). And so Hawaii was annexed to the United Sates of America in 1898. Within two years it was made an official territory although it did not become a state until 1959.

 Sources:

State Department

National Archives

History.com