of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898 Upon the inauguration of
William McKinley as the 25th President of the United States on March 4, 1897, the Republic of Hawaii resumed negotiations for annexation, which continued into the summer of 1898. In April 1898, the United States went to war with Spain, and Republic of Hawaii declared its neutrality. In practice, it gave enormous support to the United States, demonstrating its value as a naval base in wartime, and winning widespread American approval for its non-neutral behavior. With the opposition weakened, Hawaii was annexed by means of the
Newlands Resolution, which required only a majority vote in both houses. Most of the support came from Republicans. It passed the house by a vote of 209 to 91. It was approved on July 4, 1898, and signed on July 7 by McKinley. The transfer of sovereignty over the
Hawaiian islands took place on August 12, 1898, with the lowering of the
Flag of Hawaii and hoisting of the "
Stars and Stripes" flag of the
United States over the former royal
Iolani Palace in its place. It was renamed from the Republic of Hawaii to the
Territory of Hawaii, which was formally organized as an
organized incorporated territory of the United States two years later.
Popular controversy The issue of annexation became a major political issue heatedly debated across the United States, which carried over into the 1900 presidential election. By then the national consensus was in favor of the annexation of both Hawaii and the Philippines. Historian
Henry Graff says that in the mid-1890s, "Public opinion at home seemed to indicate acquiescence.... Unmistakably, the sentiment at home was maturing with immense force for the United States to join the great powers of the world in a quest for overseas colonies." President Cleveland's biographer Alyn Brodsky argues his position was a deeply personal conviction that would not tolerate an immoral action against the little kingdom: :Just as he stood up for the Samoan Islands against Germany because he opposed the conquest of a lesser state by a greater one, so did he stand up for the Hawaiian Islands against his own nation. He could have let the annexation of Hawaii move inexorably to its inevitable culmination. But he opted for confrontation, which he hated, as it was to him the only way a weak and defenseless people might retain their independence. It was not the idea of annexation that Grover Cleveland opposed, but the idea of annexation as a pretext for illicit territorial acquisition. Cleveland had to mobilize support from Southern Democrats to fight the treaty. He sent former Georgia Congressman
James H. Blount as a special representative to Hawaii to investigate and provide a solution. Blount was well known for his opposition to imperialism. Blount was also a leader in the
white supremacy movement that in the 1890s was
ending the right to vote by southern Blacks. Some observers speculated he would support annexation on grounds of the inability of the Asiatics to govern themselves. Instead, Blount opposed imperialism, and called for the U.S. military to restore Queen Liliuokalani. He argued that the Hawaii natives should be allowed to continue their "Asiatic ways". A vigorous nationwide anti-expansionist movement, organized as the
American Anti-Imperialist League, emerged that listened to Cleveland and
Carl Schurz, as well as Democratic leader
William Jennings Bryan, industrialist
Andrew Carnegie, author
Mark Twain, and sociologist
William Graham Sumner. The
anti-imperialists opposed expansion, believing that
imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just
republican government must derive from "
consent of the governed". The League argued that such activity would necessitate the abandonment of American ideals of self-government and
non-intervention—ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence,
George Washington's Farewell Address and Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address. However, the Antis could not stop the even more energetic forces of imperialism. They were led by Secretary of State
John Hay, naval strategist
Alfred T. Mahan, Republican congressman
Henry Cabot Lodge, Secretary of War
Elihu Root, and young politician
Theodore Roosevelt. These expansionists had vigorous support from newspaper publishers
William Randolph Hearst and
Joseph Pulitzer, whipping up popular excitement. Mahan and Roosevelt took the forging a global strategy calling for a competitive modern navy, Pacific bases, an isthmian canal through Nicaragua or Panama, and, above all, an assertive role for America as the largest industrial power. President McKinley's position was that Hawaii could never survive on its own. It would quickly be gobbled up by Japan—already a fourth of the islands' population was Japanese. Japan would then dominate the Pacific and undermine American hopes for large-scale trade with Asia. ==See also==