Was The Defeat Of The Hawaiian Kingdom Justified?

Improved Essays
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom began after King David Kalakaua signed the Reciprocity treaty, with America and becomes a step closer to being more dependent on America. A group of foreigners slowly took over Hawaii’s government too because they wanted to make more money from their own sugar businesses and wanted the americans to contain more power in the islands. Kalakaua was even forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution by the Annexationist Club, also referred to as the Committee of Public Safety. After Kalakaua died, Queen Liliuokalani inherited the throne during the most crucial time of Hawaiians. The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom wasn’t justified because the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown unfairly, against the Queen Liliuokalani's wishes and the bayonet constitution took away most of the Hawaiian rights which made all the choice up to the foreigners and the queen couldn’t pass any laws because of the cabinet. …show more content…
The Queen was also not able to pass any laws or another constitution that restores her back to her power nor was she able to restore the rights of the Hawaiians. In the movie “Hawaii’s Last Queen” Liliuokalani tried to pass a constitution that restores her power back and restores the rights of the Hawaiians but, it failed to pass because the cabinet was made of up mostly people from the Annexation club. Liliuokalani never lived to see the rights of her people

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The book Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer is a collection of stories describing different events in which the U.S. overthrew foreign and oppressive governments, or simply governments that were not beneficial for America. One of the stories he included was America’s annexation of Hawaii, a massive turning point in our country’s history. However, The way Kinzer writes and retells the story is slightly biased towards the side of the Hawaiians. This makes for a story that may change peoples perspectives on an important piece of history. The Majority of the accounts and sources he credits are Hawaiian, and the U.S. is not as well represented in his bibliography.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was necessary for America to declare its independence from England. The reasons why it was necessary include Americans did not want to pay the King's taxes, Americans wanted sovereignty, Americans wanted freedom of religion, Americans demanded freedom of speech, and Americans desired equality for everyone. The first American objection to British policy came after Parliament passed a taxation measure created to raise capital for the British Army.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Economically, an example is seen through their dealings with Hawaii. In 1876 the United States signed a treaty with Hawaii, which let American markets have free access to Hawaiian sugar without paying for sugar. Furthermore, when Queen Liliuokalani showed her frustrations at these treaties, the U.S overthrew the queen and annexed Hawaii. The patriotic mission is also seen through this scenario as America need HAwaii as a strategic point to help take over the Philippines. Their conquering of the Philippines was motivated by the ideals of Patriotism as well as the idea that Americans needed lands to create more enterprises.…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The colonists had every right to take actions against British rule and, were not only justified but actually time for them to take a stand against the British. The colonist only had one choice and that was to wage war upon Britain. The colonist were distressed and upset that the mother country that they had implied unjust taxes and laws on the colonies. America's colonies tried to prevent going to war by sending letters to gain independence for America but they were declined so, the colonies had declared war. (O I)…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Hawaiian Mele

    • 1582 Words
    • 6 Pages

    She wrote this song for the members of the Royal Hawaiian Band who opposed to the overthrowing of Queen Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian Kingdom. As a result, it tends to be a sacred song instead of a song for dancing. However, some perform Kaulana Na Pua as a dance for mature women. After five years, in 1898, Hawaii became one of the states of United States of America. This is also known as the Annexation of Hawaii in 1898.…

    • 1582 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    British people came to the new world to find religious freedom and to start new lives. Once they arrived and began to form colonies they were successful in many ways. The British King still wanted to control the people and profit from their success. The King as well as Parliament enacted many taxes, such as the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts, to try to control the colonists. As time went on the colonists began to resent the King and rebelled against him.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Unequal Freedom Summary

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hawaii was a hot commodity for sugar and just as in the south, field owners saw profit from cheap labor. Once Hawaii became a U.S. territory so did the laws, which also as in the south excluded Haloes from social, civil, and political rights for the interest of free white men. Glenn says (pg. 192), “Privatization of land enabled the nascent Anglo American oligarchy to establish a plantation based economy relying at first on Native Hawaiian labor and later on imported Asian labor.” The emergence of property rights also arise here. What the Hawaiians had once owned was now taken by whites and as usual the whites or Anglo Americans could do what they want because they were the only ones who had a say so since non-whites were not citizens and most definitely could not own property.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Revolution Dbq

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The American Revolution The colonist revolution against England during the american Revolution can be explained after the seven year war also known as the “ French and Indian War”. During the 18th century after the seven year war the British set Acts like the 1763 proclamation, Stamp Act, Tea Act and Intolerable Act. The “Awakening" also played a huge rule on the colonial people. The seven year war, and Acts are what brought the colonial society closer together to unite together in the American Revolution.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The colonists were unjustified in their fight for independence against the British. The colonists overacted and misunderstood Britain's actions in the years leading up to the American revolution. The British were only trying to help or avoid conflict in most of the decisions they made, nothing England did should have caused the colonists to rebel like they did. Many of the laws and acts passed by the English Parliament were completely in bounds of what they were allowed to do. Overall, England followed the rules while the colonists jumped the fence.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Was American imperialism morally justifiable? While many would think the answer would vary based on a person’s ethics and values, factual evidence shows us the commonly self-important motives of the United States during this time period. Despite these indications, we also see how some events pertaining to the “Era of Expansion” benefited both sides. To me, American imperialism was not only commonly sneaky, but, for the most part, immoral. The following paragraphs will show some examples of American imperialism in action and explain both the negative and positive factors that have helped me reach the conclusion that American Imperialism was a dishonest series of events.…

    • 1863 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Colonial Grievances During the mid 1760’s through the mid 1770’s, the colonists of the British Empire began to form a list of grievances against the king and government. The grievances that the colonies had and the events that took place over this decade led to the American Revolution against Britain. These grievances included those accusing the king of being ineffective and wrongful, those describing the mistreatment of the colonists, and those explaining the anger and wants of the colonists.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The American colonist rebelled against the British to gain identity as a republican society. Among the colonies raised an issue on who will rule the home font. During the revolutionary war, there was a rebellion against the trade restriction that Britain was imposing on America. Therefore Americans were influenced on Patrick Henry by wanting freedom from the king that was Patrick Henry’s purpose for his speech. The British colonist decided to stay loyal to the king because they thought there was no need to change leaderships.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Umi-A-Liloa Legacy

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages

    ‘Umi-a-Liloa, is recorded as the most honored chief in Hawaii history. His life is full of adventure and passion. Many hawaiians view him as the greatest leader to walk on these lands. Though, his story happened way before he was born. How did it start?…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American revolution and Haitian Revolution all achieve their initial political goals with verging of success. Rebellion was the key point of success and both revolutions. Despite the social cost of the Haitian Revolution they were able to propel the ideas of democracy and the idea of the quality far beyond boundaries established by the American revolution. Both of these revolutions are known as the greatest revolution in the western hemisphere.…

    • 1825 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The protagonist of the movie Blue Hawaii is Chadwick Gates, played by Elvis Presley, who has just gotten out of the Army and is very excited to be back in Hawaii, reunited with his beloved surfboard, his beach buddies and his Native Hawaiian girlfriend Maile Duval. His parents, especially his mother Sarah Lee, want him to take over their family business, the Great Southern Fruit Company, but Chad does not want to and starts to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend’s agency. His first group consists of a pretty high school teacher and her four students. He shows them Hawaii and introduces them to some of the cultural practices of the Native people. However, some incident causes him to lose his job and he is forced to come up with a new plan…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays