Why hawaii became a state

Eventually, adopted sons and daughters were eligible to be rulers. In addition to adopted children, members of the noble class recognized by Kamehameha were eligible to become rulers too.

The Republic of Hawaii was established on July 4th, Sanford Dole became the first president of the Republic. Ethical conundrums. This sporting life. Stage and screen. Birds and the bees. What was their sovereign status before that? It was made a state in Hawaii was a kingdom until and became a republic in It then ceded itself to the USA in and became a state in On August 21, , Hawai'i became America's 50th state, culminating years of effort after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy to make Hawai'i part of the United States.

Hawai'i's statehood had been delayed numerous times due to fears of its large non-white population that included Japanese. However, following the Revolution of , statehood became a goal of Hawai'i's Democratic Party and statehood efforts were spearheaded by John Burns with the support of newly elected Japanese American politicians like Daniel Inouye. Eventually lobbying efforts in Washington D. The Republic of Hawai'i was declared in after President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Lili'uokalani, prevented the immediate annexation of the Islands.

In , Hawai'i was granted self-governance and, although several attempts were made to achieve statehood, for nearly sixty years Hawai'i remained a territory of the United States.

Plantation owners in the Islands supported Hawai'i's territorial status as it enabled them to continue importing inexpensive foreign labor while consolidating their political influence through a legal system that attempted to reaffirm their authority. As historian Gary Okihiro noted, American annexation specifically served planter interests as it "was a way of avoiding being swamped by the 'yellow wave' or by a coalition of Asians and Hawaiians against whites.

Hobson's article entitled "Japan's 'Peaceful Invasion. Hawai'i's annexation to the United States subverted this threat by decisively closing the political process to Asian migrants as the United States Naturalization Law of limited naturalized citizenship to "whites.

However, throughout Hawai'i's history there were efforts to garner statehood. In his inaugural address, Sanford B. Dole, the first governor of the Territory of Hawai'i, raised the possibility of statehood. In , the territorial legislature petitioned Congress to grant Hawai'i statehood. Sixteen years later Jonah Kuhio submitted to Congress the first bill calling for statehood. As it turned out, Alaska entered as a state at the very beginning of , making it the 49th, and when Hawaii came in several months later, it became the 50th state of the Union.

Daws, Gavin. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, National Archives and Records Administration. About the Author.