Killing the Native Heart
Adding to America's collection of nations
Thesis
The role that Minister Stevens, President Cleveland, and President McKinley played greatly contributed to making the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom occur on January 17, 1893.
Minister John L. Stevens
President Grover Cleveland
President William McKinley
Historical Significance
Is Hawai'i legally and lawfully a state of the union?
Hawaii is NOT legally and lawfully a state of the union. Pointing a gun at someone forcing them to sign something they don’t want to sign is not legal or lawful. The Bayonet Constitution was nicknamed that for a reason. The Reciprocity Treaty was originally made to lessen the tariff on imported sugar but the second Reciprocity Treaty was for the Americans. They wanted Pearl Harbor. If Hawaii refused to sign the second Reciprocity Treaty, American soldiers were ready with their guns to take Hawaii down. American leaders such as Presidents McKinley and Harrison, and Minister Stevens, among other foreigners, thought of Hawaiians as “child-like” and incapable of running a kingdom just because Hawaiians didn’t wear pants like them or gave freely of the resources they had. The Hawaiian lifestyle was simple but wrong and “uncivilized” in the eyes of Americans. Foreigners had taken advantage of what Hawaii had to offer including the people in it. More importantly, in order to annex an independent country, a treaty of annexation needs to be signed by the independent country. There was no treaty of annexation signed by anyone and even if there was a treaty, the Hawaiians would have most likely not signed it.
Citations
Minister John L. Stevens. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Johnlstevens.jpg>.
President Grover Cleveland. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.memoriallibrary.com/CO/1898DenverPB/pics/pbrd0102.jpg>.
President William McKinley. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Mckinley.jpg>.