Hawai‘i: Sovereignty and American Imperialism

By 1898, Hawai‘i was an official US territory. The islands were granted statehood in 1959. In 1993, Congress passed the Apology Resolution, which stated that "the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and [...] the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum".

As author Gary Okihiro wrote in American History Unbound: Asians and Pacific Islanders:

Over time... occupational specializations and social hierarchies developed. A chiefly class, the ali‘i, ruled over commoners, maka‘ainana. The priests, or kahuna, tended to spiritual and ceremonial matters. With the installation of the kapu system, or rules of conduct, which specified privileges for the elite and restrictions for the masses, the social hierarchy gained legitimacy and power... Still, people shared the bounties of land and sea, both of which were considered sacred, and there was no concept of private property... As Hawaiians note, “The land remains the land because of the chiefs, and prosperity comes to the land because of the common people.”

Even without the framework of private property, the Kānaka Maoli devised a complex form of land division. Each mokupuni, island, was divided into moku, then ahupua‘a: narrow wedges of land that ran from the mountains to the sea. This allowed producers to utilize all aspects of the islands.

Farming was also a large part of society. In their vessels, voyagers brought taro, yams, sweet potatoes, gourds, bananas, sugarcane, coconuts, breadfruit, and small animals to the islands, and cultivated their crops across the archipelago.

On January 18, 1778, English explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to travel to the Hawaiian islands. He dubbed them the “Sandwich Islands” after one of his patrons. He and his crew were greeted by the aboriginal Hawaiians, who traded with the sailors for metal. 

After a month of exploiting the Hawaiian’s goodwill during his second visit, one of Cook’s crew members died. This strained the relations with the Hawaiian people, who had attached religious significance to the Europeans. After attempting to leave the islands, the sailors had to turn back due to rough weather. The Indigenous Hawaiians resisted the return, throwing rocks at the crew and stealing a small vessel. During negotiations to return the vessel, the Europeans murdered a lower chief and a group of Hawaiians proceeded to attack the crew. James Cook then killed by the mob. A few days later, the Europeans retaliated by firing cannons and muskets at the shore: massacring some 30 Hawaiians. 

The significance of this encounter lies beyond the events that occurred. At the time of Cook’s arrival, it is estimated that over 683,000 people lived on the islands. However, the sailors introduced tuberculosis and various venereal diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis, to the islanders. This decimated the population and caused long-lasting infertility. 

Additionally, the influx of European practices rapidly altered the economic structure of the islands. Author and scholar John P. Rosa wrote in Beyond the Plantation: Teaching about Hawai'i before 1900:

The introduction of capitalism shifted the focus of the lives of Native Hawaiian ali'i (chiefs) and maka'ainana (commoners) to the acquisition of land, labor, capital, and the production of goods to be sold in a world market. Hawai'i was at the geographic crossroads of trade in the northern Pacific Ocean... Starting in 1786, ships used ports in Hawai'i as a wintering place for the fur trade and the circuit of other goods being traded across the Pacific between Asia and the Americas.

After nearly 15 years of battles, Kamehameha the Great established the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1795 with the help of European weapons and military advisors. This marked the official end to ancient Hawaiian society, unifying it into a constitutional monarchy similar to those of European monarchs. During this time, property rights were formalized and the islands began to have increased contact with the outside world through trade and missionaries. Disease continued to ravage the islands, with the population declining 71% since Cook arrived at the islands by 1820.

By 1820, Protestant missionaries from America and whaling ships had arrived at the islands. Missionaries, whalers, and other merchants eventually formed a mass of colonists who demanded private ownership of lands, taxation and wage-labor systems, and citizenship rights.

These colonists quickly became influential: many powerful Hawaiian leaders and monarchs were converted to Christianity, allowing missionaries to expand power and erect schools designed to teach Hawaiians to abandon their culture, and a European style of land ownership allowed capitalists to amass property and, consequently, alienate Indigenous Hawaiians from their ancestral lands. The California Gold Rush and increased trade with Europe further connected the Hawaiian islands to the Americans and Europeans through labor and goods. 

Despite the heavy outside influence exerted over the Kānaka Maoli during this time, Indigenous culture still survived and adapted. The Bishop Museum of Honolulu writes:

Hawaiians became adept at indigenizing foreign musical instruments, foods, and political structures. When the written word was introduced to Hawai‘i, Kānaka Maoli learned quickly and extensively, making Hawai‘i one of the most literate nations in the world. They adapted to new media technology, publishing their own writings and histories in Kānaka Maoli run newspapers at astounding rates.

In 1887, King Kalākaua was forced at gunpoint by an armed militia of American businessmen to sign the Bayonet Constitution. This document stripped the monarchy of much of its authority and allowed foreign advisors more political power. After King Kalākaua’s death in 1891, Queen Liliʻuokalani, his sister, strived to regain the lost power. However, the same militia, along with a group of American Marines and Navy officers, forcefully deposed and imprisoned her.

A few days later, a delegation of over-throwers was sent to the US government to appeal for immediate annexation. Upon investigating the overthrow, the Cleveland administration deemed the coup d'etat illegal and sent the Minister to Hawai‘i to ask Queen Liliʻuokalani to grant amnesty to those involved in exchange for returning to her rightful throne. She responded that Hawaiian law dictated that property confiscation and death was the punishment for treason — this lost her the goodwill of the Cleveland administration, and they refused to reinstate her.

A senate investigation later found all over-throwers innocent, and set up the Republic of Hawai’i before the nation was annexed by the US government in 1898.

This was the first time that America took over a sovereign nation outside of North America.

For more on the remarkable life of Queen Liliʻuokalani, watch this video:

In 1959, Hawai‘i was officially granted statehood. While this movement was supported by colonists, immigrants, and Indigenous Hawaiians, who were motivated to gain civil rights, the historical perspective of opposition to statehood is greatly distorted by the rampant media suppression of the time.

Hawaiian statehood was informed by the colonial assumption that Native Hawaiians could not govern themselves, which was strongly opposed by anti-statehood groups. In a congressional testimony, territorial senator Alice Kamokila Campbell said:

I do not feel . . . that we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it, should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians.

In Colliding Histories, author and scholar Dean Itsuji Saranillo examines Hawaiian statehood under the lens of the Cold War, writing:

By the 1950s and 1960s, when decolonization throughout Asia, Oceania, Africa, and Latin America was transforming the world order and criticism of Western imperialism was the dominant international sentiment, Cold War warriors were aware that Hawai‘i statehood had ideological value for gaining the allegiance of newly decolonized nations... Hawai‘i statehood would be beneficial both nationally and internationally to “dramatize” to Americans on the continent that diverse racial groups could in fact “live together in harmony,” while supporting American interests in the “Orient” by disproving Communist accusations that “imperialism and racism are our national policy.”

After annexation, Hawai‘i was flooded with hotels and militarization, the latter of which is concealed by the hyper-visibility of mass tourism (a phenomenon dubbed “militourism”). Many Indigenous Hawaiians were and continue to be displaced in favor of the tourism industry, which commodifies and exploits Hawaiian culture — culturally significant acts, objects, and words are detached from the original meaning and packaged for sale. Additionally, the tourism industry perpetuates the mythological idea of Hawai‘i as a “paradise,” which is used to justify the material appropriation of Hawaiian lands and resources.

Kānaka Maoli do not receive the same rights as other Indigenous peoples of land occupied by the United States, as they do not have legal tribal sovereignty. Of course, Indigenous sovereignty is often in name only: rights to land and territory are often disregarded. While legal sovereignty could provide many judicial and policy benefits, many Indigenous Hawaiian activists argue that gaining tribal sovereignty would hinder the struggle for an independent nation.

Today, many activist groups protest the illegal American occupation of Hawai’i. In the 1993 Apology Resolution, the US government formally acknowledged that the Hawaiian people never ceded their land. After this acknowledgement, the movement for Hawaiian sovereignty was once again kickstarted and there was a resurgence in the cultural practices and traditions that were quashed by white forces.

Recent movements have made immense strides. Demonstrators against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea, a mountain on the Big Island and one of the most sacred locations in the archipelago, have blocked the summit access road since July through December 2019. The construction is disputed for a variety of reasons, including the desecration of sacred land, concerns over biodiversity, and issues with authority and land rights. The struggle is often cast in racist terms — portraying a binary between science as a modern and progressive ideal and the culture of Indigenous Hawaiians, coded as backwards and unprogressive.

Currently, opposition activists are protesting a potential relocation of the University of Hawaii’s teaching telescope after construction of the TMT was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. For ways to support the Mauna Kea protesters, use the resources listed on  350.org's website .

The overthrow of Hawai‘i and the oppression that Native Hawaiians face today highlight the violent and destructive nature of settler colonialism. Yet while these forces of colonization decimated the population of Hawai‘i and did extreme damage to the islands’ ecosystems, the Kānaka Maoli persist and continue to fight for their independence today. In this way, the Hawaiian struggle for independence can illuminate many common themes and struggles in Indigenous sovereignty movements.

As author, poet, activist, and scholar Haunani Kay-Trask wrote in From a Native Daughter: 

Resistance is its own reward.