Imperialism is a style of government that strives to expand its territory by either invading other nations or forcing them to submit to its control through political means. Countries engaged in imperialism to expand their territory and power. In America during the 1860s, industrialization was on the rise which increased the demand for raw materials to support the mass production of goods and the growing population of the Country. America sought to capture Hawaii because of the island's abundant resources. During this time, Hawaii was governed by a monarchy and was home to many American planters who benefited from the rich resources. The United States annexed Hawaii because of the desire for new markets and cultural superiority which improved …show more content…
Cultural Superiority was the belief that the US was above other countries and it was their duty to spread civilization to “inferior” people. Document 2 is an excerpt from a speech made by US Minister John L. Stevens. The speech states, “There is a considerable number of intelligent, energetic, and excellent citizens… But these unaided and alone people cannot make the necessary changes in the existing conditions of things”(Doc 2). The author believes that there are many intelligent people in Hawaii but their potential is being wasted as they are unable to be successful with the current conditions under Hawaiian rule. He feels that the US must intervene and seize control of the government in order to provide the Hawaiian people with a secure setting in which they can be successful. Document 6 is an excerpt from a journal article advocating for the annexation of Hawaii. The document explains many reasons for the annexation including the idea of Cultural superiority. The text states, “It is the duty of the United States to extend its free institutions to other quarters of the globe wherever possible (doc 6). The United States believed since they were superior to everyone else, they had a duty to help other countries be like them. The United States used this idea as a justification for imperialism, they argued that instead of conquering a civilization, they were simply helping it. This idea is racist and unfair because it argues that Americans are automatically superior to all other nationalities just because of where they are
He heard about these complaints and the foreign way of doing things, such as their belief of being able to “own land” and thought it would be beneficial for the Hawaiian community.
When Western presence commenced to escalate in Hawaii, it ultimately would lead to the collapse of its monarchy and annexation to the U.S. Its downfall may have started when western Christian missionaries began to populate the island in order to initially spread Christianity. This would eventually lead to the education of ali’i children, who were the monarchies’ broods, and this would serve as the foundation for exposing these Hawaiian children to the lifestyle of Western society, such as Liliˋunokalani. However, this would only strengthen the power of these missionaries as their population began to grow. For instance, this eventually lead to the establishment of a constitutional government.
The well tied power players from the United States who were apart of the Hawaii League, were granted access to the Hawaiian Kingdom because of the Treaty of Reciprocity in 1875. With that access they grew their wealth and power with their businesses that included the export of goods that were produced in the Hawaiian Kingdom. Had that access never been made possible, the tools that were developed towards the annexation of Hawaii, may not have matured. The Tariff act of 1890 put more pressure on a subject that was already weighing in on the people who wanted to get rid of the Hawaiian Monarchy. Without that extra pressure the annexation of Hawaii may not have happened so
Imperialism The united states annexing hawaii in 1900 would be put as imperiaalism .the americans began making large plantations on the island , in order to farm sugar and export it to the united states.soon the united stated dominating the economy and politics. The united states congress ended the agreement with Hawaii after passing the mckinley tariff.
Before the Mahele and the years of other land ownership rules, the Native Hawaiians had a fairly strong relationship with their government, as they shared the same morals and rules, worked together with logic to come up with solutions, and helped the community. After the Mahele, since foreigners started to dominate the economic scene and most of the big businesses in Hawaii, the government slowly started to lose power and control over Hawaii. This was seen when many ali’i had to sell large portions of their lands because their workers, the maka’ainana, were moving away to get better-paying jobs (Lâm 233-288). The ali’i had no choice but to sell their land because they couldn’t pay the land taxes, and the foreigners could then buy the land for themselves since they had the experience and the money. The konohiki became unfair at sharing resources sometimes, making everyday life a struggle for the maka’ainana (Hio et al.).
Foreigners did not take long to transition Hawaiians from their previous lifestyles with new ideas. However, not everyone was fond of the new way of life, but the beliefs of Hawaiians had no significance to foreigners. According to an article by Kuloku, it expressed that, “He paid no attention to our wishes.” Previously, each opinion was considered carefully until a consensus was formed. Hawaiians were ruined of their quality and feature as a consequence of the deception, apathy, and stubbornness of foreigners.
As the foreigners developed massive businesses and corporations, they started to hire Hawaiian employees to maintain the massive demand for workers for their businesses (Potter, Kasdon, and Rayson 95). This wasn’t hard since the Hawaiians needed money because they lost their land. However, as the Hawaiians began to rely on foreign businesses for their money, the power that the foreigners had soon were elevated to another level . Richard Borreca said Hawaiians became fully dependant upon foreign forces to stay alive, and the foreigners recognized that. This is a political impact because it caused the foreigners to have control over things that only the ali’i should be able to control, such as distribution of power over the lands and cash flowing into Hawaii (Menton and Tamura 35).
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom took place in Hawaii on January 17th, 1893. The overthrow was when the Hawaiian Monarchy was taken down and lost its sovereignty. The Overthrow happened because, The annexationists wanted more power. Some people involved were King David Kalakaua, the Hawaiian league/ Committee of safety, Robert Wilcox, Queen Liliuokalani, and Lorrin Thurston, John Stevens, Sanford Dole, Jame Blount, Aloha Aina, American businessmen. The result of the Overthrow was unjustified.
Businessmen like Dole held imperialistic values to have unrestricted access to United States markets to bypass tariffs, like the McKinley Tariff passed in 1890 that raised the average duty on imports to almost fifty percent. In his letters, Minister Stevens credits Manifest Destiny as a reason why Hawaii should inevitably fall into the hands of the United States. Hawaii was a strategic location for the United States, as it housed a US Naval Base built on Pearl Harbor which provided access to Asia, a climate for developing sugar and pineapple plantations and a workforce that could easily be exploited for profit. Many believe that Hawaiians even needed the United States to intervene and Westernize it, part of the white savior mentality that was
Imperialism was a controversial idea that a nation can extend its power outward through means of diplomatic or military force. This often results in a shift of power from one major force currently in control to another. The people of that nation under control conflict may also experience wars, rebellions, or cultural destruction. Looking at some of these events, we see some positives and negatives of imperialistic action taken by the United States, and how it affected the nations imperialized by the United States. For starters, let’s look at Hawaii’s annexation.
According to centralsurvivor.org., “Hawaiian protests immediately followed the annexation of the islands and U.S. actions were denounced as an "act of war." Ultimately, by establishing a government without the consent of the governed and by denying the indigenous peoples a political voice or vote, the cry went out that the annexation of the Hawaiian islands was the ultimate subversion of democracy..” This shows that Native Hawaiians do not want to be annexed, and instead still want their rights as Native Hawaiian people, which were taken away from them from the U.S. 's “act of war”. We don’t know if the Hawaiians will want to work with us because they might decide to revolt and force us to spend more precious resources just to guarantee that Hawaii is still annexed. Not only do the Hawaiians not support the annexation of Hawaii, they also don’t benefit from it.
The United States has inflicted imperialism on the island Hawaii on January 17, 1893. They did this by overthrowing the government which was a monarchy and its ruler was Queen Liliuokalani. Then by overthrowing the sugar planters who overthrew the Queen, President William Mckinley was able to obtaining the territory for the U.S after the Spanish-American war. The U.S wanted to obtain Hawaii because of its monopoly on Sugar and its Sugar exports to The United States. The United States wanted to obtain the territory also to get rid of taxes on them and the business, and wealthy people were losing their ability to manipulate the government and wanted it as a naval base like pearl harbor.
In the mid 1800s, the world had already started imperializing, extending their nation’s power over other lands, and america was starting the race late. American expansionists became interested in acquiring Hawaii in the late 1800s. Located somewhat 2,000 miles west of California, Hawaii was an ideal spot for coaling stations and naval bases for ships traveling to and from Asia. They first started by slowly settling in to Hawaii and later they annexed it for their country. The annexation of Hawaii highly benefitted the US navy and expanded the US military worldwide.
Before Queen Liliuokalani was in power King David Kalakaua controlled Hawaii. In 1887, he signed the Bayonet Constitution which granted Americans the majority of the political power. King Kalakaua’s main purpose was to serve as a “political front” which Americans mainly controlled the government. The Bayonet Constitution also changed the voting rights in Hawaii so that only opulent Hawaiian male descendants would be granted the ability to vote. The Americans that were responsible for such political changes, called themselves the “Hawaiian League.”
In 1874, the U.S. Secretary of State, John C. Calhoun, allowed for the recognition of Hawaii’s independence, letting Hawaii enter treaties with major world powers. Soon after, American influence appeared due to Americans seeking land for plantations. This put pressure onto the King and chiefs with demands to give Americans land to grow crops. Once the Pacific Hawaiian climate was found to be very suitable for growing sugar cane, newly