Fate and the Human Will
The Struggle for the Hawaiian Islands During the late 19th century, the United States became increasingly interested inacquiring 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 ofHawaii. There were several reasons for the United States to be interested in thismonarchical 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 tobecome a foothold for further takings of the United States. This would later make theU.S. one of the leading imperialistic countries rivaling even Great Britain. During the1880's, the average American opposed expansionism, now in the late 1890's, men andwomen felt it was a necessity, mostly because politicians changed their minds. This isnot to say that all Americans felt expansion was necessary, it is true that some opposedHawaii'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 Marineswithout the permission of the United States. Thus the fate ofHawaii rises and falls due to its many influences, and in December of 1893, PresidentCleveland referred to the landing of troops on January 16, as "an act of war". In the year of 1900, Hawaii would officiallybecome a United States territory. This scaredpoliticians into creating a new treaty that would prevent this and would also ensure theirmilitary hold on Pearl Harbor as a refueling station for the Navy. Although a definitive answer was never given to Thurson directly, he still wroteto Secretary of State Blaine a detailed account of the political factions currently inHawaii. The fewnatives and lower class whites that did favor annexation wanted to do so by means of arevolution; whereas the rich plantation owners wanted a peaceful ending that included anew constitution. Had theJapanese actually taken the islands under their imperial wing, the outcome of World WarII might have been much different. But it must also be noted that the islands of Hawaii were looked at with greatinterest, first by the Germans and British and then later by the Japanese. The saddest part was not that Hawaii's sovereigntywas taken away; it was that the people of Hawaii and their culture were ignored andtossed aside in the interest of material goods and property.
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