Hawaii Statehood Research Paper

Arguments over statehood focused on communism and distance from the United States mainland, secretly there is racism with the fear that the process is a threat to white supremacy. Senator Hugh Butler admitted there shouldn’t be any reason a man of Japanese should not be a loyal citizen or American of any other ethnic origin. The process of sketching the geographic setting of Hawaii and its population to examine political, economic and social forces developed the islands into one of the most successful human migrations. The eight islands are the homes of good-natured Hawaiians who only comprise a small percentage of the total population, all belonging to the great Polynesian race. Americas business interests concentrated in sugar plantations …show more content…
However, awareness in the American government was questionable in the 1940s after continuously addressing racial segregation as well as violence in order to reverse knowledge of America abroad. Granting statehood would be equal to accepting multi-racialism while acknowledging that it is a positive social development. In political terms, this means taking in two senators who are pro-civil rights. Although civil rights bills weren’t passed in those days, Hawaii had no racial segregation laws and was later confirmed while monitoring local authorities for discriminatory laws under the Kennedy administration. The tension only reflected politically in resistance to statehood. Caucasians feared statehood as a threat to those connected to sugar plantations and trading companies that took over the local economy. It wasn’t until 1934 that the drive for statehood finally gained momentum. The immediate cause was the threat against Hawaiian sugar and the possible issue the islands would be under military rule, causing widespread …show more content…
Sugar is one of the largest industries in Hawaii providing year-round employment while the growing of pineapples was being developed it could put more profitable use to the land however it’s not suitable for sugar cane. There are nine companies with 13 plantations along with nine canneries on the island employing additional workers during harvesting season. Plantation owners were forced to fill their labor needs with Japanese and other Orientals. Moving forward with education, many Hawaiians had a strong desire to have their children taught the English language, and Caucasians practically questioned their worth by replacing Hawaiian with English as the language for the islands. This led to legislation for the support of English schools introducing American school systems, textbooks, and teachers. Hawaii has a strong school system already with its own teaching program, the school enrollment is growing tremendously which in terms of the government Hawaii is ahead of the average mainland

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