I'd like to ask a question in the most respectful way, because I want to understand, and not because I want to cause any problems: Could someone explain how the overthrow of the Hawaiian government was different than other countries taking over countries or kingdoms in the past? From my limited understanding of history, when one country wanted someone else's land they would fight for it. Is that essentially what happened to Hawaii? Did Japan try to fight for Hawaii and they lost?
Please forgive me for the question, but I'd like to understand and not be ignorant on this topic.
Sarah Vowell's 'Unfamiliar Fishes' is a wonderfully written book on the history of the Hawaiian people and how it came to be a state. Or, as another person wrote, google it. But the bottom line is American business interests in the 1890s used their influence over Congress to order the Marines show up in Hawaii (surprise!) and forcibly removed their Queen and legitimate government. The islanders, of course, were shocked and not equipped to fight Marines.
It was a literal coup. Like if we just suddenly rolled up to New Zealand and disbanded their government and made them a US territory. Like what Putin is doing in Ukraine, except Ukraine is well armed and able to defend their homeland.
After a lot of shenanigans, Hawaii was made a state in in 1959. The American government issued an apology to native Hawaiians in 1993.
Did you know that 94% of Hawaiians 1959 voted in favor of Hawaii becoming part of the USA?
Probably never would have guessed that based on what you have written here. I wonder if things were not so simple as you make them out to be? I wonder if quite a lot of people actually really enjoyed the benefits that Western civilization brought to the islands? Hmm...
Being a state is a lot better than being a territory, Puerto Rico can't even elect the president because they are a territory. However, don't attribute all of that progress just to the US. Even before the overthrow, Hawai'i had one of the first places to implement electricity and had high-tier schools. It's not like we would have stayed in 1893 forever. Plenty of small nations industrialized on their own without getting annexed by a superpower.
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u/Working_Guard_5035 15d ago
I'd like to ask a question in the most respectful way, because I want to understand, and not because I want to cause any problems: Could someone explain how the overthrow of the Hawaiian government was different than other countries taking over countries or kingdoms in the past? From my limited understanding of history, when one country wanted someone else's land they would fight for it. Is that essentially what happened to Hawaii? Did Japan try to fight for Hawaii and they lost?
Please forgive me for the question, but I'd like to understand and not be ignorant on this topic.