The Annexation of Hawaii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Annexation of Hawaii - Essay eccentricThe process itself was rocky indeed, being ultimately accomplished only after years of international negotiation, municipal believe, and political maneuvering. The importance of the event was significant enough in its day, but it would prove even more(prenominal) most-valuable half a century later. The appropriation of the territory that would eventually become the fiftieth estate was far from easy.The events preceding the annexation of Hawaii were a mixture of scotch and political dynamics that had been create from raw material for several decades. Those circumstances would ultimately be brought to a stool conclusion by the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.The economic background immediately preceding the debate over annexing Hawaii centered around one sentiment free trade. Initially, the American approach to Hawaii, like that to China or to the Pacific coast of North America, was a matter of private enterprise, without govern ment intervention (Best & Johnson 79). As more American and foreign investment poured into Hawaii, however, it became clear that there would have to be some form of public policy steps taken to trade the growing concerns regarding commerce, immigration, and the political ramifications in the Kingdom of Hawaii. One problem was that the American kale industry had the surety of tariffs, and the Hawaiian economy was becoming more and more dependent on the American markets. This resulted in a natural confluence of interests pointing toward annexation, particularly after Hawaii was given a favored trade status. That said, however, there was no unified voice of business calling for annexation, not even in Hawaii...and in the United States beet and cane sugar producers, some refiners, and others argued against incorporation of Hawaii into the union. It can probably be safely said that the great mass of American businessmen were quite indifferent to the admission of Hawaii... (Best & Joh nson 142).Politically, there was the ever-present debate between those who did not want to entangle the United States in matters beyond its immediate borders and those with a more expansionist view. This debate was one of the key reasons that annexation took so long to accomplish having seen the first treaty efforts as primal as 1854 and not ultimately accomplishing the goal until some forty-four years later. Charges of American imperialism were raised, against which the expansionists countered with the protection of strategic national interests. The debate was rhetorical and theoretical until one foreign policy event made everything important The Spanish-American War.As Fletcher notesAmong these unresolved forces and policies, the Spanish-American War served as a kind of catalyst... Although the war was only indirectly brought rough by Pacific or Far Eastern factors, it profoundly influenced developments in that part of the world with the largely unplanned American annexation of the Philippines... The war also led at once to the annexation of Hawaii... (Pletcher 258)Considering the natural convergence of economic and political issues that had been building from early in the 19th Century, when the war stony-broke out and America realized its vital interests in Asia were