Feedback Form
Quality
Research
Material!

Fate and the Human Will

The Struggle for the Hawaiian Islands

During the late 19th century, the United States became increasingly interested in

acquiring land outside its continental states. This process became known as imperialism,

and would later label the United States as one of the imperialistic countries of the world.

This is partly due to our countries efforts to obtain and annex the sovereign state of

Hawaii. There were several reasons for the United States to be interested in this

monarchical country. One was the establishment of strategic naval bases along its coasts,

another was the importance of trade, third was of Hawaiian annexation, causing it to

become a foothold for further takings of the United States. This would later make the

U.S. one of the leading imperialistic countries rivaling even Great Britain. During the

1880’s, the average American opposed expansionism, now in the late 1890’s, men and

women felt it was a necessity, mostly because politicians changed their minds. This is

not to say that all Americans felt expansion was necessary, it is true that some opposed

Hawaii’s annexation. But, many people felt that the Anglo-Saxons of the world should

. . .

Unfortunately,

President Harrison refused to sign the treaty for several reasons. Naval officers and Marines

without the permission of the United States. Thus the fate of

Hawaii rises and falls due to its many influences, and in December of 1893, President

Cleveland referred to the landing of troops on January 16, as “an act of war”. In the year of 1900, Hawaii would officially

become a United States territory. This scared

politicians into creating a new treaty that would prevent this and would also ensure their

military hold on Pearl Harbor as a refueling station for the Navy. Although a definitive answer was never given to Thurson directly, he still wrote

to Secretary of State Blaine a detailed account of the political factions currently in

Hawaii. The few

natives and lower class whites that did favor annexation wanted to do so by means of a

revolution; whereas the rich plantation owners wanted a peaceful ending that included a

new constitution. Had the

Japanese actually taken the islands under their imperial wing, the outcome of World War

II might have been much different. But it must also be noted that the islands of Hawaii were looked at with great

interest, first by the Germans and British and then later by the Japanese. The saddest part was not that Hawaii’s sovereignty

was taken away; it was that the people of Hawaii and their culture were ignored and

tossed aside in the interest of material goods and property.

Approximate Word count = 2737
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.

CREDIT CARD
ONLINE CHECK
JOIN BY PHONE
Members get exclusive access to over 100,000 essays.
Don't pay per page, get instant access to the whole database.

Essay's Topics

All research is for reference purposes only.

Copyright (c) 2001-2008 Mega Essays LLC, All rights reserved. DMCA