America’s interest in Hawaii began in 1820, when the New England missionaries tried to spread Christianity. While the native Hawaiians were content to live in their traditional ways, America was busy building railways, hotels, and plantation and soon dominated their economy. Americans foothold in Hawaii was mainly as a result of the sugar trade. When America raised its imported sugar tariff to protect American planters from foreign competition, Hawaiian sugar became undersold in American markets. The sugar growers who were mostly white Americans were not happy about the situation and knew the only solution to this problem was to make Hawaii part of the United States. So, on January 1893, the planters overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and appealed
