We Are Not Americans:
The Americanization of the Hawaiian Kingdom
Nathand Carter
English Honors/ US History 102
Hou/ Barclay
May 23, 2014
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The story of Hawaii is one of invaders, from the first Polynesians who came ashore
around 200 A.D, to the Haoles, or “foreigners”, who vacation at the Islands in the present. The
Ancient Hawaiians, who were truly the first invaders, founded a society based on respect,
loyalty, and dedication to preservation. Hawaiian society was functional and well balanced;
everyone from the high chiefs to the lowest slaves had a strong sense of camaraderie and
responsibility for each other as well as the world around them. These strong ties between
Hawaiians, coupled with the strict observation of responsibilities instilled by law, allowed
Hawaiian culture to thrive and survive completely intact for over 1,500 years. However, in the
late 1770s, explorers came to the Islands, most of which only used the Islands as a midway, but
by the early 1800s, America took interest in the Islands. At first, the Islands were simply a land
that needed to be civilized and saved from a pagan doom, so America sent hundreds of
missionaries to spread Christianity to the Islands. However, as time went on, the Americans took
interest in Hawaii as more than an uncivilized Eden. In accordance with Manifest Destiny, the
industrial revolution, and expansionist ideals growing in the United States, American businesses
began to take root in Hawaii, spreading their influence over the Islands. The Implementation of
American culture and values, from Congregationalism to Industrialism resulted in traditional
Hawaiian society becoming distorted and reshaped to parallel American culture.
At 2,000 miles from the nearest continent, the Hawaiian Island Chain is the most
geographically isolated place in the world, and yet, from those Islands sprang one of the most
effective and interesting cultures to date. Nearly 2,000 years ago, around the time that
Constantine ruled the Roman Empire, Polynesian explorers traveled with their families over
3,500 miles in long canoes over the vast North Pacific, they eventually landed in the strange,
new Islands that they called “Hawai’i”. At that time, no one had ever heard of, nor seen Hawaii,
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and the island chain had no mammal predators, an incredibly stable ecosystem, and to the early
Polynesians, Hawaii was a paradise ripe for living in. At first glance, such a beautiful island was
simply that: a beautiful paradise, but upon arrival and after multiple villages sprang up, the
explorers discovered a terrifying reality: the Islands were unpredictable volcanoes. A religion
sprang up around the fear of the fire goddess Pele; It was the apex of Hawaiian society,
everything revolved around respect for the goddess. It formed a hierarchical system in which
high chiefs, or ali’i nui, reigned over each island, and through them the peasants could give Pele
her respect by being obedient and respectful to ali’i nui in the effort to wave off volcanic
eruptions. The chiefs commanded the people, placing kapu on activities deemed dangerous, such
as overfishing and over-cultivating sugar so as to preserve the environment and allow a
continuous abundance of food throughout the Islands. Through the method of kapu, the
Hawaiians were able to preserve their island for over 1,580 years: they were untouched by
disease, free from corrupt government, and aside from the brutally enforced laws, the Hawaiian
society was one that worked incredibly well (Daw). The people, including chiefs and high chiefs,
understood that they had to follow their laws and regulate their actions; otherwise they would
ruin not only their islands, but their lives.
This respect for the land and each other was deeply rooted in Hawaiian society from the
start; people on the Islands took care of their communities, including families, friends, and the
environment around them. However, it was not just common sense to respect and take care of
their surroundings; at any time, night or day, Pele was able to rain fire from her volcanoes, and
for that reason, Hawaiians were constantly under a set of laws called the kapu, which in English
is synonymous to “restriction” or “quarantine” (Siler). The separate high chiefs of each island
initiated such kapu; they restricted everything the ancient Hawaiians did, but it was for a
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beneficial reason. The ali’i nui had a big responsibility to protect and care for their people and
the Islands, and the peasants understood and accepted it throughout each island. However,
sporadic warfare between the eight populated islands prevented unification. Although warfare
persisted relatively often among the islands, war was regulated by the ali’i nui, whether it was a
tactful choice or not, ali’i nui would call off a war after a few months because they genuinely
cared for their people, and sustained warfare was known to be deleterious to the resources of
each island, so war was viewed as competition more often than as conquest (Lee). Although
considered a primitive race by westerners, the Hawaiians were not savages, nor were they stupid.
They built lavish irrigation systems, enormous stone temples, and actual breakwater systems.
The Hawaiians “even dabbled in science… astronomers could identify over a hundred stars, and
navigators plot[ted] course[s] by them far into the Pacific (Lee 8).” They had Botanists who
could classify nearly every plant and tree on the island, zoologists, and most importantly,
historians and genealogists who went into incredible amounts of detail to make sure that proper
histories were retained and passed on to future generations. The preservation of history was
essential to the Hawaiians, however, before the first missionaries came, their language was
purely oral, but masters of song, or haku mele were able to memorize songs and poems to speak
and sing to the people so that every Hawaiian knew their true history. However, in 1778, one
piece of history was about to be made in the islands that the Hawaiians would never forget.
Captain Cook, an Englishman who spent time in the American colonies, set sail looking
for the Northwest Passage, a legendary route to china, only to discover the Hawaiian Islands; his
presence lead to the first fights between the western world, and the Hawaiian Kingdom. On
January 18, 1778, two years after Cook embarked from New England with his ships the
Discovery and Resolution, Cook discovered the islands of Kauai, Oahu, and Niihau. Upon his
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arrival to Kauai, incredibly hospitable indigenous people—peasant Hawaiians, greeted his ship
the Resolution. The Hawaiians came out to the enormous ship on canoes, where Europeans and
Hawaiians bartered iron and other metal for live animals and various food products. Cook then
left Hawaii a few weeks after he arrived, so that he could continue looking for a northwest
passage, but failed. Discouraged by the time he got to the Bering straight, he returned to Hawaii
in 1779. His return to Hawaii was more impressive than his previous arrival. He arrived at
Maui’s Kealakekua Bay in January of that year, to be greeted by thousands of Hawaiians. Cook
wrote: “The inhabitants… on January 17th began to come off from all parts… so that before 10
o’clock there were not less than a thousand about the two Ships, most of them filled with people,
hogs and other productions of the Island. Not a man had with him a Weapon of any sort, Trade
and curiosity alone brought them off” (Daws 10). Cook had come to a new world in which the
people were not accustomed to outsiders; they were at first fast friends with the explorers, but
soon, after consistently stealing from the whites, the explorers came to mistrust the Hawaiians.
After about three weeks, fighting broke out between the haoles and the Natives, such fighting
resulted in Cook’s death as well as the brutal murder of numerous Hawaiians by Cook’s vengeful
crew. The crew set fire to Hawaii’s Kealakekua Bay villages on February 14th, 1779 as they left,
killing even more Hawaiians and scorching the surrounding area: a metaphor to the destruction
future Westerners would wreak on the islands in the years to come.
Kamehameha I was originally a warrior ali’i nui who realized that the weapons used at
Kealakekua Bay could completely transform Hawaiian warfare, and as an extent, the islands.
Europeans started using the Islands in 1785 as a midway point between the Northwest coast of
America and the Chinese port city of Canton (among other cities), and by 1790, hundreds of
Europeans came and went from Hawaii, not staying for long, usually. These European sailors
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brought with them iron, copper, and guns; from cannons to muskets, Hawaiians were able to
persuade the Europeans to trade them weapons and metal for food. Kamehameha I captured an
American battleship called, ironically, the Fair American as well as two skilled Sailors: Isaac
Davis and John Young, to advise his army on how to use the newly captured weapons. He then
used the weapons to conquer other Islands, first he took Hawaii, then moved on to Maui, then
Oahu, and finally, in 1810, Kauai. Within 20 years, Kamehameha had used the acquired
American ship, weapons and sailor-advisors to completely unify all of Hawaii. He established
himself as the all-powerful king of Hawaii and started the first and only Hawaiian dynasty. This
was the first major change in the Hawaiian Islands in its 1,750-year history: unification. The
separate Islands had always been sovereign, and although they periodically warred with each
other, the Hawaiian Islands always had peace and prosperity.
But with the unification of the islands, various things had to change: beginning with
ancient traditions, especially religious ones. In 1819, Kamehameha I was succeed by his son,
Kamehameha II, who immediately abolished all ancient traditions of religion. This act was a
result of his “contact with foreigners;” it was “destroying [his] confidence in the gods and
kahunas (priests, magicians)… [He] could not miss observing how traders ignored or defied
Hawaiian gods and not only survived but prospered” (Lee 53). Among these traders were the
Americans, a new, free race of men who were quickly taking to the sea. Kamehameha felt
pressured by not only his people, but the onslaught of Americans, to redesign their traditional
beliefs to fit the haoles’ ideal image of a society. Some Hawaiian men even went among the
haoles to travel to their “civilized” worlds; among these men was a Hawaiian named
Opukaha’ia. Opukaha’ia boarded an American ship in 1809, desiring to learn the customs of the
white men.
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Opukaha’ia was to be the driving force of the American Missionaries; he was the first in
a procession of curious Hawaiians who left the Islands to adopt American Ideologies. He arrived
in New Haven, Massachusetts and was greeted by a priest and scholar named Timothy Dwight,
who taught him how to read, write, and more importantly, understand the bible from a Calvinist
perspective, so that one day he could return to Hawaii to “take down the wooden idols… and
‘put ‘em in a fire, burn ‘em up” (Vowell 29). He, and multiple other Hawaiians similar to him,
came to believe that they had a holy mission for Hawaii, and they became devoted to translating
the Bible into Hawaiian, and teaching other migrant Hawaiians its laws, Opukaha’ia was simply
the first and the most impressive of the lot, he then changed his name to Henry Obookiah to
emulate his angelic “brethren”. Timothy Dwight proposed to the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, or ABCFM that “Obookiah be sent back to reclaim his
own countrymen, and that Christian mission accompany him” (Vowell 30). Dwight and his
colleagues began to devise a plan for the “Salvation” of Hawaii; they desired to “aim at nothing
short of covering those islands with fruitful fields and pleasant dwellings, and schools and
churches; of raising up the whole people to an elevated state of Christian civilization” (Vowell
46). Obookiah suddenly died in 1818, but his surprising death caused the ABCFM to rush to find
funds to fulfill his “holy mission” to deliver Christianity to his people. The ABCFM then funded
a small party of American Calvinist Missionaries; they gave them a ship called the Thaddeus and
a few Hawaiians similar to Obookiah who had learned the ways of the Christians, in the hopes
that when they arrived, the Missionaries could spread Christianity more effectively than if they
went without native knowledge.
The American Missionaries arrived March 30, 1820; a year after Kamehameha II had
already burned up all the Hawaiian idols, destroyed temples, and killed off nearly all the kahuna:
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as a result, one part of the missionaries’ work had been completed, but much work still had to be
done. The missionaries still believed the Hawaiians had to be civilized as well as saved from
their savage, sinful ways; and that they would stop at nothing to “help” those “poor, savage”
souls (Daws). Early 1800s America had a heavy focus on Christianity, but the state and the
church were separate. However, a certain group of theses Christians, namely the Calvinist
Christians aboard the Thaddeus, believed in abiding by Christian principle in every aspect of
daily life; from waking up, to sleeping, they believed everything must be done to benefit God.
They brought over this belief to the Hawaiian Islands so that they could “save” the Hawaiians.
From the moment the Missionaries came into Kealakekua Bay, they used “the Gospel as a
civilizing instrument, and Hawaiian civilization would be Christian civilization,” (Daws 62) in
accordance with their ideal Calvinist society. They presented their new religion to Kamehameha
II, however, the king realized that the new religion, if allowed to stay long, could potentially be
“very upsetting to the kingdom” because of its new customs and ideology (Vowell). However,
John Young (the American who was captured by Kamehameha I and used as an adviser for
military purposes) was able to persuade the king to let the missionaries stay for a trial period of
one year to see how effective or necessary the missionaries might be to the Islands. He claimed:
“the old religion is dead. Let the visitors bring in a live one. The people and the kingdom will
surely benefit” (Lee 64). After over 30 years of being in contact with, and repelling western
influence (including Russia during The War of 1812), the Kingdom of Hawaii allowed the small
group of seemingly harmless missionaries to put their foot in the door of their sovereign nation.
The religious revolution caused by Kamehameha II sparked a desire in the population of
Hawaii to pursue a new religion to take up their lives, and in numerous ways, the Calvinist form
of Christianity paralleled Ancient Hawaiian religion, making it easier to adapt to the new ways.
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Therefore allowing the Hawaiians to become more comfortable and trustworthy of the
Americans. Calvinism was an intense form of Christianity: “it was a seven-day-a-week faith,
with emphasis on the Sabbath… this was the religion, with its political accent, that was to be
transplanted to Hawaii” (Lee 56). Such “thou-shalt-not attitude” was quickly transplanted into
the hearts and minds of the Hawaiians, the Americans had the advantage of teaching a people
who intently desired a new religion, and as that trial-year went on, old traditions were simply
reshaped to fit new ones. Christian ideals such as charity, love, and unselfishness were incredibly
similar to Ancient Hawaiian beliefs; “from the start, the taboos of the bible seemed to hold an
appeal among commoners that the taboos of their priests had never acquired” (Lee 65). Prayer to
one god instead of the multiple gods of Ancient Hawaii was emphasized as well as the practice
of wearing clothes, eating with women, and going to church on Sundays; such activities were
easily implanted into daily tradition.
Clearly, the missionaries proved to be indispensible to the islands, and after the first year,
more and more Americans came to the islands to reinforce the small army of Missionaries to
extend their influence to the entirety of the country. American Priests known to the Natives as
Makua. Or Father, “extended the light of salvation to thousands and tens of thousands; turned
what had been strictly an oral tongue into a written language,” they had translated the Bible into
Hawaiian, which they had also turned into a 12-letter language, and had “built hundreds of
churches and schools” (Lee 66). They had established themselves firmly on the island and were
inviting more Americans to come to the islands to help their cause. One of the most important
missionaries was Titus Coan, a reinforcement of the late 20s, he traversed the entirety of the
islands: crossing deadly rivers and crashing through unfamiliar jungle to reach remote
communities and establish his biblical teachings. He was one of the main reasons why
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Christianity expanded over the Islands as effectively as it did: he ordered stone and imported
wooden homes to be built; the royal Chapel of Honolulu was constructed, and sanctuaries were
made available to thousands of Native Hawaiians. More than 150 missionaries like Coan came to
the islands between 1820 and 1863, costing the ABCFM over 1 million dollars, so that in 1863, it
cut off its funding of the missions because the church was then able to sustain itself. That year,
the ABCFM declared Hawaii to have been “effectively Christianized” (Lee) according to 1810s
ideals.
It is important to understand that the Missions in the Hawaiian Kingdom had been
founded in part by outdated ideologies, and that by the 1860s, America was rapidly progressing
into a new era, where the old Hawaiian ways were no longer necessary. As a result, yet another
fundamental change had been in the works in Hawaii since the inception of the Hawaiian
democratic constitution in 1840, and without the support of the ABCFM as an incentive to stay
true to the original American Mission, the missionaries began to turn to other businesses to
spread influence over the Islands.
By the late 1830s and early 1840s, there were dozens of missionaries and missionary
families who had been on the islands for over two decades: but with most of their original work
done, they began to realize that they could start making money and helping themselves. To
supplement incredibly small and otherwise insignificant salaries, a vast majority of missionary
families began turning to outside enterprise to attain more money. The missionaries
experimented with raising sugar cane, surveying, growing coffee, and various other plantationrelated ventures to bulk up their purses. According to the new Hawaiian church, “If a church
were to be self-supporting… the community had to be self-supporting first” (Lee 78). As a result,
the church actually started to support the founding of small plantations, and it gradually allowed
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them to grow, all so that the church might “grow” as well. When in reality, it was just so that the
missionaries could gain extra money. Father Bond, a pastor in Kohala started a small sugar
plantation, which at first was meager, but quickly grew in size due to the growing demand for
sugar in almost every major country. In Father Bond’s case, his profit actually went to his local
church, which revived his community and brought Hawaiians in his area of influence together
under the house of god. He bought wood and aid to build newer, more “civilized” places of
residence, and then broke away from the ABCFM system of churches that had been controlling
all churches of the islands for the past 20 years. Other churches throughout the islands saw
Bond’s success and quickly began to follow in his example, however, with the rise of 60s and
70s ideals, business and money making men of the islands began to turn away from the church
and focus only on themselves.
As churches started to promote these now large plantations, exponential amounts of
revenue began to stream into Hawaii, and as private revenue increased, so did the speed of
modernization in the islands. Modernization was not just the construction of buildings; it was
also the change of ideology from Congregationalist America to Industrialist America. As a result
of the change in America, Hawaii was influenced to do the same; changing from a neoCongregationalist (or staunch Christian) society into an Industrialist one. The Americans
cultivated food such as bananas, pineapples, and sugar, clearing out ancient forests to make way
for their plantations, they then sold their exotic produce to sailors of all countries, with which
money they expanded their capitalist empires. Of course, no American wanted their hands to be
dirtied, so they used Hawaiians as their tools: they put them to work doing back-breaking labor
in the fields, and then justified it by saying it was what god had told them to do. Thus using the
deeply rooted Christian ideals of obedience and hard work set in place by the missionaries to the
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advantage of the Industrialists. With the new idea of social Darwinism, the Americans convinced
the Hawaiians that it was their natural place to be under the white men. The Americans had
already succeeded in “Civilizing” the Hawaiians by dehumanizing them, claiming that they were
an inferior race. “The missionaries… had completed the process of cultural genocide within a
few decades by making the Hawaiians ashamed of being Hawaiian” (Gray 39). So by the time of
the industrial revolution in America, they were given non-religious justification for suppressing
the Native Hawaiians, and because the Hawaiians were respectful and kind people, they became
susceptible to manipulation.
The American plantation owners, now the second or third generation of Americans, had
become manipulated by money and power, and began to do whatever necessary to sustain their
influence. They became heavily invested in Hawaiian politics, manipulating every aspect of
Hawaii to increase their profits. However, Trade between China and America intensified,
resulting in increased international trade and the use of Hawaii as a midway between the United
States and China. This influx in trade lead to potential threats of takeover by larger countries, and
because Hawaii was incredibly weak and susceptible to attack, the American Hawaiians realized
that they would lose all their business should a foreign country control the islands. The Hawaiian
government allowed a free environment for business on the Islands, one in which the people
were allowed to be manipulated in the effort to increase profit. In the event that the Kingdom
would be taken over by another country, this freedom would be suppressed by regulation. So
who better to turn to than the United States for protection from other countries? The U.S was
already corrupt with little regulation, and if the Hawaiian Kingdom agreed to reciprocity with
America, the planters would be unaffected in terms of production. Realizing this, the planters
used their influence in the government to effectively persuade Kamehameha IV to “turn his back
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on statehood negotiation,” he then “gave the Americans what they wanted… America’s navy
was to have the use of the Pearl River Lagoon (Pearl Harbor)… and the sugar planters were to
have tariff-free access to the American sugar market” (Coffman 59). Both Hawaiian Americans
as well as mainland Americans attained what they wanted through reciprocity: Hawaii stayed an
independent nation, subliminally controlled by powerful American planters, and protected by the
American Navy. But to say that Hawaii was actually independent by the 70s would be an
inaccurate statement. Americans controlled the government, and as a result, they also controlled
the people. They pulled the strings on what happened in a political sense; the king was simply
the puppet, which betrayed the very idea of the king, a man who was supposed to be the father,
leader, and caretaker of his country. Kamehameha died in 1872, his successor then died in 1874;
the Kingdom had no king for a while, so the Queen had to step in to take his place, the new
Hawaiian society accepted Lili’uokalani and slowly began to love her and her new way of ruling.
Lili’uokalani was a very traditional ruler: she appreciated the way Hawaiian society had
used to be, before the arrival of Americans, and so she tried to emulate old tradition. By the late
1870s, and early 1880s, Hawaiians had become subject to consumerism, social Darwinism, and
Christianity, with those three ideologies put together, the Native Hawaiians were an incredibly
oppressed people. As previously stated, the American missionaries initially set authority over the
Hawaiians, teaching them the ways of Christianity, then the Plantation owners built on the ideas
of self-sacrifice, hard work, and obedience and applied them into the daily lives of the working
Hawaiians. Then with the rise of the industrial revolution, the American ideal of competition
came about, causing a deeper rift between Progressive Hawaiians, Passive Hawaiians, and
Traditionalist Hawaiians. Progressives adopted the American culture and tried to spread it to
other Hawaiians, Passive Hawaiians were more complacent with their situation, and lived their
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lives without much resistance. Traditionalist Hawaiians believed in reviving their old heritage,
and not allowing Americans to control Hawaii. Lili’uokalani was an incredibly Traditionalist
Hawaiian, and since she was queen, she had the power to do something with her beliefs. She
began reforming the already crippled society of the islands; she gave more power to the people
by reaffirming the laws of the Constitution of 1840, which had been “misinterpreted” frequently
in the 70s (Coffman). She paid close attention to the environment, similar to the ali’i of ancient
Hawaii, and reestablished neo-kapu, or new forms of restriction that limited the amount of
planting at certain times of each season to prevent overproduction and deforestation throughout
the islands. She forced whalers and fishers to limit their hunting, she even started reforestation
projects to help revive Hawaii’s devastated forests (Siler). Due to her traditionalist rule, the
majority of Americans on the Islands began to worry that her rule might end their power over
Hawaii. And the Mainland Americans worried that their Midway point would be lost, and as a
result, their control of much of the Pacific would be lost as well. The American planters and
businessmen worried that their incomes would lessen because their plantations and investments
would be lost to the Kingdom (Coffman). Both parties realized they had to do something about
the Queen; otherwise they would no longer have the power they desired.
Annexation was the solution to the Americans’ Problems; it was also the most important
act of American control over Hawaii. The American Businessmen persuaded a regiment of
American Marines to unofficially invade the island of Oahu on January 17, 1893. They were
armed to the teeth with new, modern weapons (Coffman); they marched through the streets of
Honolulu, intimidating anyone who thought they might stand a chance of rebelling against them.
They marched to Iolani Palace, where Queen Lili’uokalani resided, there, she was given the
ultimatum to either call on her special reserve of Hawaiian guards to fight against the imposing
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army, or surrender her power as Queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which would relinquish the
sovereignty of Hawaii. She did not wish to have her people’s blood spilled, she knew they did
not stand a chance, and judging from the actions of the past, rebelling against the Americans
would result in the destruction of the remaining Native Hawaiians. So she chose to give up the
throne. She called on the United States to “undo the actions of its representatives”
(Chamberlain), but it was in vain; in 1898, she even went to Washington to petition the
sovereignty of her homeland, but she was declined once more. Although the coup took place in
1893, it was not until 1898-1900 that the United States officially established Hawaii as a territory
of the U.S.A due to the fact that American Legislature did not directly authorize the coup to
overthrown the Queen. A provisional government was put in place in 1893, with Sanford Dole, a
newcomer to the pineapple business, as the self-declared “President” of Hawaii. Dole wet on to
rebuke several of Lili’uokalani’s rules, giving power back to the businessmen, so that they could
resume their overproduction, exploitation, and other money-making schemes.
The switch from Hawaiian to American control over the Islands demolished the hopes of
many Hawaiians who had previously believed they could return to their old ways. Once the
United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 and officialized annexation in 1900, Hawaii came under
the executive rule of the U.S, along with this rule came an influx in Consumerism, Racism, and
lack of well being associated with the gilded age, which was amplified on the Islands due to the
fact that the Hawaiians no longer had a true identity. In 1898, they had finally been absorbed by
the imperialist nation, reducing the Hawaiians, once more, into an insignificant race, reformed
and reconstructed according to American beliefs. They were met with violence when they
rebelled or spoke out against their new government (Coffman 245) and oppressed by the
plantation owners. The Americans were relentless in the takeover of Hawaii, and only until after
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statehood in 1959, and many riots afterward, did the U.S apologize for destroying the Kingdom
of Hawaii. Still today, even after the 1993 Apology Resolution, the United States retains control
over the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Hawaii was America’s first true Imperialist venture; they had successfully taken over a
sovereign country. They took over everything, from its beliefs to its plant life; Hawaii became
property of the United States. What first started out as a simple exploration venture turned into a
Christian Mission, and through that mission, rules and authority were established over the
Hawaiians, allowing America to gain subliminal control over the islands as businessmen,
plantation owners, and “advisors” in the political system. The Americans were successful in
taking over the islands by initially rooting their ideologies in Hawaiian society, and when
necessary, they had effectively prevented any type of uprising that could potentially question
their power; changing Hawaiian society from an effective, powerful, and independent nation into
a territory of the United States, and later on, a State of the U.S.A. The Hawaiians had their
country, their culture, and their lives taken from them by the United States. And as a result,
tension still exists between the U.S and ancestral Hawaiians; a popular phrase is shouted and
written on picket signs at statehood anniversary parades: “We are not Americans, we are
Hawaiians, give us back our Kingdom.”
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Works Cited
Chamberlain, Eugene Tyler. "The Hawaiian Situation: The Invasion of Hawaii." Digital History.
Digital History. Web. 09 May 2014.
Coffman, Tom. Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i. Kihei,
Hawaiʻi: Koa, 2009. Print.
Daws, Gavan. Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
Print.
Gray, Francine Du Plessix. Hawaii: The Sugar-coated Fortress. New York: Random House,
1972. Print.
Lee, W. Storrs. The Islands. N.p.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1966. Print.
Siler, Julia Flynn. Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First
Imperial Adventure. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2012. Print.
Vowell, Sarah. Unfamiliar Fishes. New York: Riverhead, 2011. Print.