Hawaiian Monarchy Nonexistent
Overthrowing Hawaiian Culture to Create American Culture
The Contribution
President William McKinley
McKinley believed in new imperialism; meaning that he believed smaller countries should be taken over by larger countries. In this case, America should take over Hawaii. In his time of office, the Spanish-American War was occurring in the Philippines. During this time, Hawaii had become even more desirable because it was considered a mid-point for re-stocking and refueling.
Unlike the previous president, Democrat Grover Cleveland who had not supported the desire to have Hawaii annexed, McKinley proposed an Annexation Treaty. This proposal, however, was unable to pass through Congress. McKinley then immediately created a Congressional Joint Resolution and pushed it through Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands.
After the Spanish-American war, McKinley had been more forceful to push through the annexation of Hawaii. McKinley had persuaded and pressured the senators to approve the annexation; by 1898, the annexation resolution made its way into the House of Representatives and eventually was signed.
Minister John L. Stevens
U.S. Minister John L. Stevens was a racist; he believed that Hawaiians were all
childlike, unfit to rule their own land, and are semi-barbarian. U.S. Minister Stevens
and the rest of the members of the Committee of Safety had the same, or similar,
views towards Hawaiians. The members of the Committee of Safety had requested
for John L. Stevens to bring the U.S. Marines to the islands. In 1893, the U.S.S.
Boston had left America and the U.S. Marines landed on Hawaii’s soil with Minister John L. Stevens. The Marines’ jobs were to protect the American residents in the Hawaii, but their presence had also made the kingdom stop from defending itself. On January 17, 1893, with the help of armed American citizens, the Committee of Safety had overthrown the Queen. Queen Lili’uokalani stated that she surrendered to the U.S. government and NOT to the provisional government.
President Grover Cleveland
President Cleveland was an anti-imperialist who responded to native Hawaiians' protests against the overthrow by ordering an investigation into its legality. Cleveland had sent Secretary Blount to investigate on what has happened. Secretary Blount had resided in Hawaii for 4 months. During Blount’s stay in Hawaii, he had typed up a report stating that the overthrow of Hawaii’s monarchy was illegal and immoral. With that, Cleveland had referred to the invasion of Hawaii by Americans as "an act of war." President Cleveland had requested that all American flags shall be lowered from buildings and that they shall return the Queen on the throne. But the Provisional government had stated that Grover needed to kill the U.S. citizens on the Hawaiian Islands if he wanted the queen back on the throne. Because of this sudden hint of war, Grover had done nothing and Hawaii proceeded to be annexed. Despite his desire to give the monarchy back where it belonged, his decision to by stand had done a lot more than he would have thought.
The Overthrows' Significance
Legally and Lawfully?
After studying about the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, it’s made me question whether or not Hawaii really is legally and lawfully a state of the union. At this point, I believe that we are lawfully a state of the union, but not a state that was willing to be a part of the United States. Though technically it wasn’t legal because there was no treaty signed, hence no actual document stating Hawaii being given to the U.S.
Aloha 'Oe
Work Cited
William McKinley. N.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Mckinley.jpg>.
John L. Stevens. N.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Johnlstevens.jpg>.
Grover Cleveland. N.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/StephenGroverCleveland.png>.
Pitzer, Pat. "The Overthrow of the Monarchy." The Overthrow of the Monarchy. Aloha Airlines, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2015. <http://www.hawaii-nation.org/soa.html>.
"The Annexation of Hawaii." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3159>.
"Miller Center." American President: American President. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://millercenter.org/president/events/07_07>.
"Aloha Oe." Aloha Oe. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://www.huapala.org/Aloha/Aloha_Oe.html>.