Hawai'i, Annexation of

Historical Development

Americans and Hawai'ians influenced one another long before Hawai'i became part of the United States. From the first days of European contact in 1778, the islands captured Americans’ imagination, compelling missionaries from New England to travel there to convert the people to Christianity. A Hawai'ian diaspora likewise followed, with a few Hawai'ians taking jobs aboard whaling ships, moving to the mainland United States, and even fighting in the U.S. Civil War.

But a greater association between the islands and the United States occurred once haoles overthrew Queen Liliuokalani in 1893 and sought annexation to the United States. Although native Hawai'ians protested, along with others on the mainland, annexationists argued that whites controlled the local government and that affiliation with the United States was necessary to prevent Japan from overtaking the isles. Once the Spanish-American War commenced, haoles and their allies successfully persuaded American legislators that the islands were essential to American success. Even so, an official treaty was never passed and Hawai'i instead became a part of the United States via the Newlands Resolution in 1898, which required only a majority of votes in both houses of Congress to annex the islands.

Although Native Hawai'ians initially provided most of the labor for the haoles’ booming sugar and pineapple plantations, their population rapidly declined because of their lack of immunity to new diseases. Haoles therefore encouraged the immigration of people from China, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, Germany, Russia, Spain, India, and other parts of the world to replenish their workforce. Ten years before annexation, approximately 45 percent of the population claimed Hawai'ian heritage, with 14 percent coming from Japan, an equivalent percentage from Portugal, 19 percent who were Chinese, 6 percent white, and a few people from other parts of the world. Three decades later, even as U.S. exclusion laws began restricting who could immigrate to the isles, Hawai'i had become even more diverse, with people of Japanese descent becoming the dominant ethnic group (43 percent) and Filipinos, Koreans, and Puerto Ricans joining the existing mix of peoples.

Impact on Multiculturalism

Prior to statehood, the haole population dominated the island as they maintained control of the most arable land and access to markets. Although they heeded some concerns of the Native Hawai'ian citizen-voters, haoles held more influence with mainland government officials who had the authority to make political appointments. U.S. naturalization laws prevented Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian immigrants from becoming citizens and thus from voting or holding major offices. Over time, this restriction mattered less to the immigrants because their U.S.-born children were citizens who could exercise voting rights when they came of age.

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