Foreign Intervention by Paige Kelleher

Colonization of Hawaii

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 01:51:45 UTC

In 1810 Kamehameha united the islands of Hawaii to create one kingdom. Ten years later Christian missionaries started settling on the islands. As more settlers came they brought diseases that killed island natives. By 1850 the Hawaiian population decreased to 70,000. American colonists took control of their agricultural products. In 1893 Queen Lilu'uokalani was taken and forced to give up her throne. She wrote a letter saying she gave in to the American government by force. America colonized Hawaii to increase military powers using the island as bases. Natives' identities were stripped from the banning of them from speaking their language. The government harmed not only the people but also the island's environment. Now the population of mainland US citizens and other countries outnumber the native population.

US Perspective

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 03:33:28 UTC

After American missionaries settled in Hawaii and started converting Hawaiians to Christianity they also reported back saying how ideal the conditions were for planting sugar cane. Business investors began buying large plots of land and replaced Hawaiian agriculture with a plantation economy, based on private land ownership, taxation, and wage labor. The idea of annexation of Hawaii started in the 1850s when King Kamehameha III was okay with the idea of bringing political stability. When he died his successors stopped the idea. By 1975, the Hawaiian economy was heavily intertwined with America, more so because of the reciprocity agreement that stated Hawaii wouldn't be taxed on exports to the US. By 1890 76% of Hawaii's imports were from the US. Another strategy was ensuring the monarchy continued to fail. American landowners in Hawaii pressured the government to limit monarchial authority and establish property qualifications for voting, giving the power to American landowners. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff in 1890 that undermined the reciprocity arrangement, allowing other nations to export sugar to the US tax-free. Following this was the immediate price drop of sugar. Then Hawaii makes a come back King Kalakaua dies and his sister Queen Lili'uokalani takes the throne. She is all for economic dependence on America and fights to restore the political rights of Native Hawaiians. The planter elite see her as a threat and want to get rid of her. In 1893 the Queen was overthrown by a group of businessmen (with help from the US government). John L. Steven landed the U.S.S. Boston along the shore, and the queen renounced her throne fearing an invasion. Sanford B. Dole (not the pineapple man) set up a makeshift government for the "new republic of Hawaii" and made an appeal to US President Harrison for annexation. The letter made its way to the Senate but never came up for a vote, and Cleveland believed that Queen Lil'uokalani had been unjustly deposed so he withdrew the treaty from Senate consideration. Those in favor argued it could be a gateway to trade with eastern nations and the importance of Pearl Harbor as a military base. Those opposed thought it was immoral and shamed Stevens for making the US government a part of the coup. People thought it was unnecessary for westward expansion and raised concerns if it was constitutional. There were also racist people who didn't want Japanese and Chinese people living in Hawaii to gain American citizenship. William McKinley took office in 1896 endorsing the annexation of Hawaii along with the reinstatement of the reciprocity arrangement. This threatened people in the sugar industry and when the treaty was sent to the Senate it did not gain the 2/3 vote it needed. Senators did however try to bypass his through joint resolution, which also failed. Finally came the Spanish-American war and McKinely persuaded Congress to pass the joint resolution, claiming it was a necessary war measure saying it would benefit the US military. This was all part of McKinelys larger plans for US expansion overseas. The queen was arrested in 1895 for having knowledge of treasonous activity against his regime, she permanently lost her throne and Hawaii became an official state in 1959.

Hawaiian Perspective

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 03:49:28 UTC

The sugar trade was what began America's involvement in the Hawaiian government. The native people were fearful of the economic dependence Hawaii had on America. The Bayonet Constitution was established stripping the King of his power and democracy. Robert Wilcox set up a native republic to fight the Bayonet Constitution. However, this resulted in the creation of the McKinley Tariffs. After lots of back-and-forth and war Hawaii was annexed, which brought Hawaiian protests. The indigenous people were denied a political voice.

Americanization

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 04:01:46 UTC

The Americanization began in 1906. The plan was to take out all national consciousness of Hawaii in school children. They were taught to believe they were American. They could not speak Hawaiian or they were punished. They were forced into Christianity beliefs and believing in a country built on freedom when all of theirs were being taken. Patriotism was forced into these children's minds.

Hawaiian culture today

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 04:30:52 UTC

Today less than 20% of the current population in Hawaii is native. Now natives suffer from the loss of their culture from Americanization, as well the islands have been taken over for military bases, resorts, urbanization, and plantation agriculture. Tourism has taken over the state and parts of their culture with spiritual meanings have become meaningless. Just like anywhere there are negative effects from the war on the country, specifically shiploads of military pass through Hawaii, during WWII Hawaii was put under martial law for 7 years, and during that time hundreds of thousands of acres of land were taken. When Hawaii was granted statehood the economy changed from a sugar/ military outpost to a tourist/military outpost. Hotels, resorts, and many more buildings went up right over the sugar fields. Rich Americans from the mainland pushed out native Hawaiians which increased protests. One example is in 1970 on O'ahu island Hawaiians living on month-to-month leases for the past 20 years were given a month's notice to leave their homes and farms. This caused resistance on every island. Hawaiians protested commercial development and started to reclaim the land taken from the Hawaiian government in 1893. American Congress ended up giving 200,000 acres of underdeveloped and unusable land to Native Hawaiians. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was created in 1978 which focused on gaining reparations for the overthrow in 1893, but Ka Lahui was formed with the goal of inclusion in the Federal American policy on recognized Native nations.

"The Pineapple King"

303199_1 — 2024-05-17 04:53:11 UTC

James Drummond Dole was known as the Pineapple King due to his development in the Pineapple industry in Hawaii. He was cousins to Sanford B. Dole, but they were once removed. He was born in Massachusetts and got his bachelor's degree in agriculture from the Bussey Institution of Harvard University. By the time he was 22, he saved up $16,240 and moved to Honolulu on November 16, 1899. He purchased 64 acres in Oahu and experimented with different crops until he settled on pineapple. He started small but as his popularity grew he built a larger canner and packing plant near Honolulu Harbor. After his purchase of a magazine advertisement, his clientele became nationwide. He modernized the pineapple industry by inventing the Henery Gabierl Ginaca which could peel and core 35 pineapples a minute. Rival companies picked up on the invention seeing how efficient it was. Dole did some finance stuff and ended up buying the island of Lana'i and developed it as a pineapple plantation. Over the 20th century, he produced 75% of the world's pineapple crop. With the successful trans-Atlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh, he saw the potential in air transportation. So he created the Dole Air Race with a prize of $25,000 to fly from Oakland to California to Honolulu. 10 people died in the race but he still got those contracts to use air travel. Sadly this all caught up to him and during the great depression he was removed from management and replaced by Atherton Richards.