Hawaii Was only a Kingdom for a few decades until Americans came along and just decided to settle there. This small emigration to Hawaii was a only a little while after the entirety of America was mostly constructed, most of modern day america was already instituted. Americans wanted to keep going to new places and still wanted to own land. The other reason for the desire to move into Hawaii territory was purely economic. There is a product called Sandalwood. this sandal wood was a very fragrant type of wood, and once the oils were extracted from the wood, it would become incredibly valuable. This fragrance was adored in china and served greatly as a trade piece. In the 1830's there was also in integration of sugar cane into Hawaii which proved to be an incentive for Americans to move there.
Eventually, American missionaries and farmers/planters came to Hawaii and inhabited it among the other Polynesian men and women. Americans sort of just arrived and made the place their home. this is pretty similar to what happened with the native Americans way back in the early 1500's. These Americans came over and immediately sought to reform everything, by implying political changes and trying to save these Polynesians by almost forcing their religious practices on them. they also changed the economy pretty drastically with the introduction of sugar cane use and the use of the sandalwood.
There was a couple of political and economic treaties that were established between the Hawaii and the American nation. (included a constitution made by both the Americans and Polynesians) In 1887 Americans naval army came over to Hawaii and established a naval base called Pearl harbor. Sugar trade increased for a short while and many american investors and planters began to encroach the Polynesians land. A short while after this princess Liliuokalani ascended to the throne and became queen of the Hawaiian kingdom, she did not accept the constitution that had been previously agreed upon. Sanford B. Dole, a Hawaii born citizen and child of two Americans, formed a coup and with help of the american government, turned Hawaii into a U.S. Protectorate. Sanford asked the senate for an annexation of Hawaii but was barely rejected.
Eventually, the Spanish american war started and allowed for the annexation of Hawaii.( Hawaii had pearl harbor, and Sanford convinced the senate that they needed to Annex Hawaii in order to get better support in the war. I don't know how he did this. )
two years after the annexation of Hawaii, it was declared to be a state and was made the official 50th state.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2188,00.html
I really liked how you talked about a bit of everything in your article. There was a lot of information that made it very understandable for why things happened the way they did. I particularly was intrigued when you described how Americans migrated into an independent Hawaii, and eventually as the demographics continued to change and the political situation changed, the annexation of Hawaii by America. This is similar to what happened in Texas which ultimately resulted in the Texas Revolution. This does go to show the similar attitudes of America across generations and in this instance of migration, like you said, through all the changes America faces.
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was really interesting and I enjoyed learning about how Hawaii became the last US state. After reading about the Polynesian inhabitants of the island before annexation, I wanted to learn more about how the structure of their society changed from the arrival of settlers. Before James Cook, the first European to land in Hawaii, arrived in 1778, the Hawaiians lived in small groups led by chiefs. Their language was purely communicated orally until missionaries forced them to learn to read the Bible and later banned the language all together for a period of time. Also, many diseases from European settlers devastated native communities, much like the Native Americans on mainland North America.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/topics/us-states/hawaii
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I found it intriguing how you mentioned how the islands were only first inhabited by the Polynesians in the early 1800s. After some further research on the history of these islands, I discovered that the first forms of settlement by Polynesians were made as early as the year 300. Following this, the islands saw complete isolation from the rest of the world for at least 500 years. Around the year 1200, a Tahitian priest by the name of Pā‘ao was said to have brought new order to the islands, with new social structure and laws. Other than further development, the next major changes would be made to the islands with the encountering of Captain James Cook, in 1778. This was some context proceeding with what you described in your article.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gohawaii.com/hawaiian-culture/history
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ReplyDeleteI think that this post reflects American imperialism well. For example, in the post you mention how Americans wanted to settle west and for used Hawaii for its economic resources. Not only did they imperialize for these purposes but they also did it for military strategy and the idea of the white man's burden. For example, the US explored islands in the pacific for military bases. Also, since they thought that their culture was superior, they tried to spread American culture among the natives of the places they imperialized. This can be seen through America making the Philippines and Puerto Rico more Americanized by calling them Manila and Porto Rico.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/american-imperialism/