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Effects of colonization on Hawaii
Hawaii effects from colonization
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The Hawaiian Monarchy was overthrown by the Committee of Safety, a group of American businessmen, in the year 1893 (The Overthrow of the Monarchy - Spirit of Aloha). The decline of the Hawaiian government had been going on for years before, starting in the late 1800s when the Americans took control of the sugar industry. Hawaiians began to rely on the U.S., mostly for profit, as sugar was Hawaii’s main export. The monarchy officially ended when Liliuokalani abdicated the throne on January 24, 1895. The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was unjust because it cemented the loss of Hawaiian independence and because the Queen was unwilling to sacrifice Hawaiian people, nothing could be done to stop it. One reason the Overthrow was unjust was because
For example, at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, President Trump announced the continuation of the Dakota and Keystone XL pipelines. According to Merriam-Webster.com, pipelines are long, underground pipes, mainly meant for carrying oil. Parts of the pipelines will be passing under sacred rivers and land belonging to Native Americans at Standing Rock, North Dakota (Washington Post). If the pipeline breaks, the river and land can potentially be contaminated with oil. This is similar to the Overthrow because in both situations, the rights and land of native people are threatened. Just as Hawaiians could do little to stop the rise of Americans and the Overthrow, Native Americans are struggling against the American government to keep sacred lands at Standing Rock safe and undisturbed. Hawaiians lost Hawaii to Americans and Native Americans may lose sacred land to
The Overthrow stripped Hawaiians of political power and independence. Though Liliuokalani and President Cleveland attempted to stop Lorrin Thurston, Sanford B. Dole, and the provisional government, Queen Liliuokalani was not reinstated to the throne and nothing could be done without endangering innocent Hawaiians. The economic hopes of American businessmen and the Committee of Safety did not immediately occur because annexation was delayed. The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy at the hands of American businessmen was unfair and is still grieved by Hawaiians
...the British, while still holding treaties with the American government, Tecumseh lost Shawnee support in him as the speaker of the Shawnees.
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
Andrew Jackson signed the indian removal act in 1830. This act allowed him to make treaties with the natives and steal their lands. The Trail of Tears was a forced relocation of more than 15,000 cherokee Indians. The white men/people gave the natives 2 options: 1. Leave or 2. Stay and Assimilate (learn our culture). The natives couldn’t have their own government. There were 5 civilized tribes including the cherokees. They learned english and went to american schools and when the cherokees went to court they won.
United States of America. U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian. Annexation of Hawaii, 1898. N.p, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
While this may be true, this does not rationalize the fact that the overthrow was both illegal, and extremely unethical as well. Years after Hawaii was annexed into the United States, business boomed because of tourism around 1966 (Time). Hawaii was annexed under shady circumstances and was completely illegal. Men pointed bayonets at King Kalakaua and forced him to sign a document which gave up almost all the power within the Hawaiian monarchy to the American and European elites (Wikipedia). This unscrupulous overthrow swept the Native Hawaiians with feelings of sorrow and grief. Their monarchy was taken over unfairly and they were unable to do anything about it, their voices were left
The annexation of Hawaii was a brilliant addition to America in 1898. First off, Hawaii has a prime location for
The United States government's relationship with the Native American population has been a rocky one for over 250 years. One instance of this relationship would be what is infamously known as, the Trail of Tears, a phrase describing a journey in which the Native Americans took after giving up their land from forced removal. As a part of then-President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act, this policy has been put into place to control the natives that were attempting to reside peacefully in their stolen homeland. In the viewpoint of the Choctaw and Cherokee natives, removal had almost ultimately altered the culture and the traditional lifestyle of these people.
The federal government proceeded to find a way around this decision and had three minor Cherokee chief’s sign the “Treaty of New Echota” in 1835 giving the Cherokee lands to the government for 5.6 million dollars and free passage west. Congress got the treaty ratified by only one vote. Members of their tribes murdered all three chiefs who took part in the signing of the treaty. After this event there was not much the Cherokee’s could do and were forcibly moved west on what they called and are known today as the ‘Trail of Tears,’ which became a constitutional crisis in our history. In this instance the lack of cooperation between the branches of the government was the downfall for the Cherokee nation. The way the Cherokee’s were forced west caused losses of up to twenty percent of the nation. This figure is only a guess and scholar’s think it was more a third of the nation was lost. The ‘Trail of Tears’ was also a morale issue in the United States, later having an impact on our history the way other Native American races in general are treated in the future.
Stevens held firm beliefs about the future of Hawaii in the hands of the United States. From the start of his stay in Hawaii, Stevens made it clear whose side he was on in the political war. He would openly criticize Hawaii’s monarchy, and at times would refer to Queen Liliuokalani and her advisors as “incompetent”(2). Stevens may have not held anything against the Queen herself or any of her cabinet members, but rather degraded them simply to achieve his goals of the annexation of Hawaii, something that he considered “the only effective remedy for Hawaii’s troubles.” (2) Queen Liliuokalani naturally spoke out against the degradation of herself and her cabinet, and on behalf of her position of defending the Hawaiian Monarchy. “The U.S. Minister John Stevens was influenced by the annexationists. As a diplomat, his role was to foster a friendly, trusting relationship with the Hawaiian government. Instead, he often criticized the monarchy in public. I complained to the U.S. government about Stevens’ attitude and conduct but no action was taken.” (1)
The Chickasaws and Choctaws submitted quickly. The only tribe that resisted until the end was the Cherokees. President Jackson’s presidency was tarnished by the way the U.S. government handled the Native Americans. Although financially, and economically, Jackson truly was a good leader, some people view him in a negative way because of the “Indian Removal Act.”
Since 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical paradise for millions of tourists. People all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawai'i's lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawai'i tourists know. This is the Hawai’i they visit. However, this Hawai'i is a state of mind, a corporate-produced image existing on the surface. More precisely, it is an aftermath of relentless colonization of the islands' native inhabitants by the United States. These native Hawaiians experience a completely different Hawai'i from the paradise tourists enjoy. No one makes this as clear as Haunani-Kay Trask, a native Hawaiian author. In her book, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i and through her poetry in Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Trask provides an intimate account of the tourist industry's impact on native Hawaiian culture. She presents a negative perspective of the violence, pollution, commercial development, and cultural exploitation produced by the tourist industry. Trask unveils the cruel reality of suffering and struggling through a native Hawaiian discourse. Most of the world is unaware of this.
The cries from Americans did not stop President Van Buren from giving General Winfield Scott orders to remove the Cherokees. The Cherokees, despite their grossly horrific predicament, still were proud. They were once a great people, and they maintained that they would remain that way.
The best analogy that can be used is that of the African American people and the struggles they faced but the Native American people have dealt with this since the first explorers landed in this country, being enslaved and killed if they did not adhere to the changes that these foreigners brought with them, then later when the United States was in its infancy the government pushed these noble people from their lands in the name of progress and through all of this they endured and continued to thrive in the face of all of these
The Hawaiian Seizure The annexation of Hawaii was an important event in the history of the world. It is still not easy for the Hawaiians to accept the fact that America has taken over a land 2500 miles away from the West Coast. In 1917, Hawaii was considered the 50th state supported by the islanders after a plebiscite. Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani was overthrown because of the support of the United States army as well as naval forces to a group of businessmen belonging to the sugar and pineapple industry. The Armed forces of the United States were ordered to provide this support on the directives of the minister of the United States to Hawaii.
Many different groups today are seeking the sovereignty of Hawaii. The reason being that these mostly Native Hawaiian groups feel that they suffered a severe injustice when they were annexed into the United States against their own free will. They feel that since they were treated like objects rather than human beings with rights and emotions, they now deserve reparations. The intentions of the different groups vary. Some only want reparations in the form of money and acknowledgements of the inhuman acts that were committed against them and others want it in the form of independence for the island. However, restoring sovereignty to Hawaii would cause great injustices toward the non-natives living on the island today. So these groups should not be granted the sovereignty they are seeking.