Queen Liliuokalani's Annexation Affect The Kingdom Of Hawaii?

At Queen Liliuokalani’s birth no one knew of the struggles and trials she was to face. Neither did they know that she would be the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Queen Liliuokalani made many difficult decisions during her reign but she did so with the hope of establishing sovereignty and preserving the islands for the native people. The United States played a major role with the dethroning of Queen Liliuokalani and the annexation of Hawaii as they gradually encroached upon the Islands through trade and commerce, taking away power from their Monarchy, and completely disregard Hawaii’s own desire for sovereignty as the political leaders of the U.S. only sought to gain control for their own benefit. Liliuokalani was born
In the 1840’s sugarcane was first introduced to the economy. By 1853 nearly three thousand acres of cane were under cultivation and its production continued to increase and eventually became the chief industry of the Islands (Carpenter 40). Sugar was the new king of the islands, and would continue its reign well on into the twentieth century. Today the industry is all but dead in the state, and the economic impact of its absence is still felt in many areas (Carpenter 40). Through the 1850’s 60’s and 70’s a movement to establish closer commercial relations between Hawaii and the United States was desired. Many reciprocity treaties were drawn up but then shot down as the two countries argued over trading rights. It was not until 1875 they met a negotiation with the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. It created a duty-free market between the U.S. and Hawaii. The interesting thing about this treaty is that it never once mentions the sovereignty of Hawaii, a very crafty move by the U.S. In this document they managed to give the appearance of sovereignty and modelled the treaty to seem extremely favourable to Hawaiian trade, which depended greatly on sugar, while in actuality elusively avoiding the talk of Hawaii’s sovereignty (Carpenter 47-52). In reality, what the treaty did was establish the control and monopoly of the United States over
Here it frankly states the true reason behind the Reciprocity Treaty. They weren’t trying to help Hawaii in anyway. They made this treaty to boost the economy in the U.S. And the Hawaiian people bought it at first, only seeing it for what the United States deceived them into seeing. The Hawaiian government just trusted the “good faith” of America to honour the sovereignty they thought they had established