ANNEXATION TO STATEHOOD

(1898 - 1959)

 

I.  Territory of HawaiÔi 

         A.  Resolution instead of Treaty   

                  1.  1897 Petitions Protesting Annexation

                           a) Hui KālaiÔāina

                           b) Hui Aloha ÔĀina

                  2.  Joint Resolution of Congress (July 1898)

                  3.  Annexation (August 12, 1898)

         B.  Organic Act (June 14, 1900)

                  1.  "incorporated territory"

                  2.  structure of government

                           a) appointed (governor & judges)

                           b) elected

                                    -- one non-voting delegate to Congress

                                    -- 15 senators & 30 representatives (local)

                  3.  voting rights (21 years old, literate, male, citizen)

                  4.  U.S. citizenship   

                           a) all citizens of the Republic

                           b) all persons born in HawaiÔi since annexation

                           c) Asian immigrants can't be naturalized

         C.  Hawaiian Congressmen

                  1.  Robert Wilcox (1900-1902)

                           a) Home Rule Party

                           b) "HawaiÔi for the Hawaiians"

                  2.  Prince Jonah Kūhiō KalanianaÔole

                           a) Republican Party (1902-1922)

                           b) Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (1921)

 II.  Big Five Oligarchy

         A.  Cooperation

                  1.  Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association

                  2.  boards of directors

                  3.  bonds of marriage

         B.  Labor

                  1.  19th century = contract labor

                           a) Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese

                           b) Masters & Servants Act (1850)

                  2.  20th century = employees

                           a) Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos

                           b) benevolent paternalism

                           c) strikes (1900, 1909, 1920, 1924)

 III.  Race Relations 

         A.  On Plantations

                  1.  imposed by planters

                           a) racial division of labor (Caucasian & Asian)

                           b) ethnic "camps" = divide & control strategy

                  2.  within immigrant groups

                           a) Chinese (Punti & Hakka)

                           b) Japanese (main islands & Okinawans)

                           c) Filipino (Visayan, Tagalog, Ilocano)

         B.  Off Plantations

                  1.  aliens vs. citizens

                  2.  American education

         C.  Crime & Punishment 

                  1.  Myles Fukunaga (1928)

                           a) kidnapped & strangled F. W. Jamieson's son

                           b) tried, convicted & hanged

                  2.  Massie case

                           a) Thalia Massie is raped & beaten (Sept. 12, 1931)

                           b) five "local boys" tried in the press (Hearst papers)

                                    -- Horace Ida

                                    -- David Takai

                                    -- Henry Chang

                                    -- Benny Ahakuelo

                                    -- Joe Kahahawai

                           c) first trial (Nov. to Dec. 1931)

                                    -- jury make-up (7-5)

                                    -- prosecution's case (weak) 

                                    -- defense's case (time)

                                    -- mistrial declared

                                    -- Rear Admiral Yates Stirling's remarks

                           d) Mrs. Fortescue's plan (Jan. 8, 1932)

                                    -- force a confession

                                    -- Thomas Massie (w/ Jones & Lord)

                                    -- kidnapped & murdered Joe Kahahawai

                           e) second trial (April 1932)

                                    -- Clarence Darrow (defense attorney)

                                    -- guilty of manslaughter        

                                    -- commuted sentence

 IV.  World War II

         A.  HawaiÔi's Japanese Problem

                  1.  dual citizenship (after 1924)

                           a) must register at consulate

                           b) allowed to expatriate

                  2.  Japanese population in 1940  = 150,000 

                           a) American citizens = 113,000

                           b) dual citizenship = 30,000

         B.  Pearl Harbor Attack (December 7, 1941)

                  1.  early warnings:  submarine & radar

                  2.  destroyed Battleship Row

                  3.  attacked air bases on OÔahu

                  4.  U.S.  casualties = 3,435 (~1,100 on U.S.S. Arizona)

         C.  Martial Law in HawaiÔi (Dec. 7, 1941 -- Oct. 24, 1944)

                  1.  transfer of power

                           a) Governor Joseph Poindexter

                           b) General Walter Short

                  2.  military orders (i.e. censorship, blackout, curfew)

                  3.  military courts = fast & guilty

                  4.  Why so long?

         D.  Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA's)

                  1.  about 1/3rd of Hawaii's population

                           a) 1,600 interned in HawaiÔi

                           b) 110,000 interned on U.S. mainland

                  2.  visible proof of loyalty

                           a) UH ROTC

                           b) Varsity Victory Volunteers

                           c) 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate)

                           d) 442nd Infantry Regiment

 V.  Statehood Campaign

         A.  Statehood Bills (HawaiÔi's Delegates to Congress)

                  1.  Prince KŸhiš (1919 & 1920)

                  2.  Victor Houston (1931)

                  3.  Samuel King (1935)

         B.  Proponents

                  1.  position

                           a) "incorporated territory" implied statehood 

                           b) treated as second class citizens

                                    -- i.e. Jones-Costigan Act (1934)

                  2. actions

                           a) 1940 plebiscite (2 to 1 in favor)

                           b) Hawaii Statehood Commission (1947)

                           c) ratification of a state constitution (1950)

                           d) Statehood Honor Roll (1954)

         C.  Opponents

                  1.  Native Hawaiians (but they're outnumbered)

                  2.  questioned HawaiÔi's loyalty

                           a) communist threat

                                    -- ILWU (Harry Bridges & Jack Hall)

                                    -- Hugh Butler (1949 & 1952)

                           b) racial argument

                                    -- senators from Southern states

                                    -- Drew Smith's The Menace of Hawaiian Statehood (1957)

                                    -- HawaiÔi was not the "American type"

                  3.  politics

                           a) Big Five domination

                           b) non-contiguity argument

                           c) Alaska & Hawaii Joint bill was divided