Annexation

Raised as a devout Christian and educated in European patterns, Liliuokalani was shocked to see her people so poorly treated by the American democratic system. She appeared unable to reconcile her victorian European upbringing with the harsh realities her people faced at the hands of American ascendancy.

The Hawaiian "revolution" turned out to be no more than a nasty commercial coup. Civilian government was replaced by a foreign military dictatorship, whose aim was to guarantee and increase their strangehold on Hawaii's wealth and marginalize the Hawaiian population. "Donating" the Republic of Hawaii to the United States accomplished this goal.

Liliuokalani was naive in thinking that the much-ballyhooed ideals of "democracy" espoused by the American people would protect Hawaii. The United States was founded on a sea of native blood. Even prejudiced commentators from the periods of English and American expansion were often appaled at the casual brutality of the transplanted Europeans. The Trail of Tears, Indian Removal Acts, Wounded Knee; the list of massacres and social crimes committed by the ostensibly democratic American government is long and humiliating. Like most other European-run states, the U.S. was not known for its enlightened attitudes towards non-Western, non-white societies.

American foreign policy has rarely upheld even the most feeble democratic ideals. From the beginning, it's been the preserve of influential commercial interests and jingoistic sloganeering. More often, American foreign policy has been used as a weapon against the American people, a classic tactic of distraction and deception. Exaggerated threats, from racial and religious fear-mongering to the Cold War, are used to prevent Americans from demanding real democratic activity and reform of their aging institutions.

By 1898, Hawaii had a very diverse population. About 55 percent of the population was native, 20 percent was of mixed Asian origin, and the remaining 25 percent was composed of European foreigners-- from the United States, France, England, Germany and other European-majority countries.

Liliuokalani thought that her people might escape the fate of other native societies. Corrupt Indian Departments, institutionalized racism and enforced social decay, assimilation and shameless economic exploitation were to be imposed upon Hawaiians, as well.

Unfortunately for Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian people, by the time she made her pleas to Washington politicians, this violent pattern had a long history in the political order of the American republic.