Title
Question Number 2
Hist 1302-016
Professor Linda Powell
Michelle Marsh
04/25/2016
After the unexpected death of her brother, Queen Liliuokalani was only in power for two years before she was overthrown in 1893. [1] American interest in Hawaii may have begun with the trade routes to China, but it didn’t take long for Americans to desire more. The U.S. government wanted to have a naval base at Pearl Harbor and Americans began purchasing land for sugar plantations. These plantations untimely took over the Hawaiian economy and changed the lives of the native peoples forever.
American merchants arrived on the Hawaiian Islands in the 1790s and brought the same infectious diseases that had already decimated the native populations…show more content… The U.S. was given permission to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor, and the plantations attracted a new Asian workforce. Even thought the Americans were a minority, they controlled the majority of wealth and natives started to grow tired of the growing American control. Queen Liliuokalani sought to challenge those controls, but desired peaceful methods to protect her people.
International trade made less demand for Hawaiian sugar and the economy was devastated, so Americans wanted to be part of the United State to avoid paying tariffs on sugar and recover. [1] When the American minister ordered troops from the naval base to aid in a rebellion, Queen Liliuokalani yielded her authority. “To prevent the shedding of the blood of my people, natives and foreigners alike, I opposed armed interference,”…show more content… What was overlooked was that two thirds of the popular vote was in favor of the constitutional amendments. Under the current constitution she had to sign the lottery bill and would not have been allowed to veto it. The lottery would have benefited the people by building a railroad and was a popular bill. The licenses for opium were in an attempt to model after the constitutional government of the British “license instead of prohibition”.
