THE American flag was first raised over Iolani Palace 99 years ago today. It formalized annexation to the United States, approved the previous month in Washington. Hawaiians cried. They longed for their kingdom, overthrown in 1893. They hated to see the Hawaiian flag move to second place. Annexation was
better for HawaiiansFor Hawaiians, joining the U.S. was at least an improvement over living under the republic set up by the revolutionaries.
They regained voting rights the revolutionaries took away from them by requiring voters to have their taxes fully paid and sign loyalty oaths to the republic. The republic's qualified voters thus numbered less than 3,000, mostly Caucasian, compared to over 14,000, mostly Hawaiian, in the pre-1893 kingdom. So much for "democracy" in the republic!
Congress corrected things. It opened the way for a Hawaiian counterrevolutionary to be elected in 1900 as our first delegate to Congress. He was Robert Wilcox, who also led the fight to get Congress to open up the voter rolls. His statue stands at King and Fort streets in downtown Honolulu.
The Caucasian leaders of the Territory of Hawaii were distressed. They countered in the 1902 election by running Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole as their candidate. With a member of the royal family heading the Republican ticket, they were able to defeat Wilcox and deal with a less troublesome delegate. The 1900 and subsequent elections also saw many Hawaiians becoming mayor of Honolulu and county chairmen of Maui, Kauai and Hawaii. Hawaiians came to fill many civil service positions.
By accepting territorial status for Hawaii rather than holding out for statehood, the power elite shifted the selection of Hawaii governors and judges to the president of the U.S. The white elite usually had good access to presidents when they visited Washington.
They got governors and judges much more to their liking, and usually Caucasian, than would have happened with direct election. Territorial status also gave Congress a veto over Hawaii laws and bond sales. It wasn't used much but did kill a realignment of Kalakaua Avenue to preserve views of Diamond Head.
Statehood in 1959 was thus a civil rights law. By that time Asians born here also had become a political force. Statehood finally gave full power to Hawaii's people of all races to select their governors and judges. It ended the congressional veto power over local legislation. The privileges of statehood now are being used to advance the sovereignty movement.
Moving under the U.S. flag likely was Hawaii's best option in an era of colonialism that put the Philippines under Spain and then the U.S., and most of the rest of the Pacific islands under Britain, France or Germany. They were cruising the Pacific with their gunboats, swallowing up small-fish nations whenever they could. A look at the alternatives made King Kamehameha III talk about U.S. statehood as early as 1854. America offered the most democracy and seemed more benign.
CONGRESS has formally apologized for a U.S. role in the 1893 overthrow. It has funded many special grants for Hawaiians. We now have full participation in all federal programs, including Social Security. Because of the military bases here, far more dollars are sent here from Washington than we send back in taxes.
Today's independence advocates are few but vocal. Even they admit that change is decades away at a minimum. In-migration could be limited by an independent Hawaii but U.S. funding would shrink or disappear. My hunch is the Stars and Stripes will continue to wave from our flagposts for a long time to come because we will find it a far better bargain than the alternatives.