Newlands Resolution

On August 12, 1898, the flag of the Republic of Hawaii over ‘Iolani Palace was lowered to raise the United States flag to signify annexation.

The Newlands Resolution, was a joint resolution written by and named after United States Congressman Francis G. Newlands. It was an Act of Congress to annex the Republic of Hawaii and create the Territory of Hawaii.

In 1898 President of the United States William McKinley signed the treaty of annexation for Hawaii, but it failed in the Senate after the 21,000 signatures of the Kū’ē Petitions^[1] were submitted. After the failure, Hawaii was annexed by means of joint resolution, called the Newlands Resolution.

It was approved on July 4, 1898 and signed on July 7 by William McKinley. In August of the same year, a ceremony was held on the steps of Iolani Palace to signify the official transfer of Hawaiian sovereignty to the United States.

The Newlands Resolution established a five-member commission to study which laws were needed in Hawaii. The commission included: Territorial Governor Sanford B. Dole (R-Hawaii Territory), Senators Shelby M. Cullom (R-IL) and John T. Morgan (D-AL), Representative Robert R. Hitt (R-IL) and former Hawaii Chief Justice and later Territorial Governor Walter F. Frear (R-Hawaii Territory). The commission's final report was submitted to Congress for a debate which lasted over a year. Congress raised objections that establishing an elected territorial government in Hawaii would lead to the admission of a state with a non-white majority. On July 12, 1898, the Joint Resolution passed and the Hawaiian Islands was added to the United States by the United States. With Hawaii on America’s side, America created a mid-Pacific fueling station and naval base as a strategic imperative.

Background of Senate debate

The bombing of the U.S.S. Maine took place in Cuba in February, 1898.^[2] That bombing triggered the Spanish–American War, which caused world events to soon force the annexation issue. One of the main issues in the Annexation of Hawaii was when President Benjamin Harrison submitted a treaty to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States senate for ratification.^[3] In 1897, the treaty was blocked by many other Hawaiian public officials. This group was occupied by many native Hawaiians that created a petition that opposed the U.S. congress’s treaty. The organization had left only 46 Senators in favor of the resolution, which was less than the required amount that was needed for the approval of the treaty.^[4]

See also

• Hawaiian Organic Act, approved in 1900 by Congress to adopt a form of government for the new territory, in supplement of the Newlands Resolution.

References

Further reading

• Hilfrich, Fabian. Debating American exceptionalism: empire and democracy in the wake of the Spanish-American War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
• Osborne, Thomas J. "The Main Reason for Hawaiian Annexation in July, 1898," Oregon Historical Quarterly (1970) 71#2 pp. 161–178 in JSTOR
• Osborne, Thomas J. "Empire Can Wait": American Opposition to Hawaiian Annexation, 1893-1898 (Kent State University Press, 1981)

External links

• Text of the Newlands Resolution

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands

Territorial expansion of the United States Thirteen Colonies (1776) Treaty of Paris (1783) Louisiana Purchase (1803) Red River Cession (1818) Adams–Onís Treaty (1819) Texas Annexation (1845) Oregon Treaty (1846) Mexican Cession (1848) Gadsden Purchase (1853) Guano Islands Act (1856) Alaska Purchase (1867) Annexation of Hawaii (1898) Treaty of Paris (1898) Tripartite Convention (1899) Treaty of Cession of Tutuila (1900) Treaty of Cession of Manuʻa (1904) Treaty of the Danish West Indies (1917) Concept: Manifest destiny