Historical Overview and Modern Issues of Hawaii

Historical Overview and Modern Issues of Hawaii

During the rule of Kauikeaouli (Kamehemeha III) many social, political, and environmental events happened that greatly impacted Hawaii and native Hawaiians. From 1839 to 1843 Hawaii was threatened by 2 different countries that they were going to take over. France first threatened to colonize Hawaii; but American merchants helped collect $20,000 as payment to keep France from taking over. Shortly after, Great Britain threatened Hawaii with the possibility of war. With the help of America, they were able to stop Britain from taking over.

I think the way the Americans helped Hawaii push away the European nations is very important. At that time the population of the native Hawaiians was around 90,000. If Hawaii decided to defend and fight the Europeans, their population would greatly decrease.

After these 2 incidents Kauikeaouli decided to allow privatization of land to stop foreign countries from trying to take it over. The land was divided amongst the government, the Ali`i Nui, and the commoners. The Hawaiians were practically stripped of their land. The Ali`i received only 50% of what they had before and the commoners only received 1% of the total land. Most of the land became under the governments control and sold to foreigners. Many of the foreigners used their privately owned land for sugar cane plantations. Sugar cane plantations became one of America’s biggest market.

It makes sense to me that the land of Hawaii should have the ability to be privately owned, if it meant stopping the Europeans from invading. I don’t see how giving so little land to the Hawaiian commoners has any benefits to them. Out of the 88,000 Hawaiians about 8,000 of them receive land. I feel that if the foreigners want to better Hawaii, they should do things that not only benefit themselves but benefit the Hawaiians as well.

Since Hawaii was not a territory of America, there was a tax on the imported sugar from...