The US' involvement in Hawaii

Answer 1

Hawaii was an imperial entity of America at that time. It provided refueling and base of operations to the pacific fleet. It was a halfway point for the philipines, the solomons and many other U.S. interesests.

Answer 2

The US, mainly through private colonial interests, gradually took control of Hawaii during the 19th century. The same type of foreign intervention that established the single Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810 eventually removed the monarchy from power, and led to US annexation in 1898.

Hawaii was settled by three groups of Pacific cultures: Polynesians, Marquesans, and Tahitians. Although visited by both European and Chinese traders, the islands were first explored by Captain James Cook in 1778, who named them the Sandwich Islands. When French sailors visited in 1832, they found that European diseases had decimated the local populations. Foreign weapons supplied by traders had enabled King Kamehameha to become sole ruler of the islands around 1810. During his reign, missionaries and priests from various countries arrived in the islands.

Lord George Paulet claimed Hawaii for Great Britain in February, 1843, but four months later his action was repudiated by his superior, Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas, after both France and the US had been alerted to the claim.

US Protestant missionaries had set up churches and schools, and obtained various positions within the Hawaiian royal government. American maritime interests developed the Port of Honolulu and agricultural interests established sugar cane plantations. By the time of the Reciprocal Treaty of 1875, the US government exerted substantial influence within the islands, and transits by US warships led to the ceding of Pearl Harbor to the US. The harbor approaches were deepened and Ford Island enlarged using dredged material as landfill.

US private interests forced King Kalakaua to sign the pro-American 1887 constitution referred to as the Bayonet Constitution. In 1893 the king's sister and successor (Queen Liliʻuokalani) was overthrown by a collection of foreign interests, mainly Americans. Although there was pressure from President Grover Cleveland to restore her to power, the Republic of Hawaii was declared in 1894, and in 1896, President-elect William McKinley sided with groups advocating annexation. The US Senate approved this in 1897, and in 1898 the islands became part of the US as the Territory of Hawaii.