Annexation of Hawaii

The Newlands Resolution was an Act of Congress to annex the Republic of Hawaii and create the Territory of Hawaii against the express wishes of the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population and without a referendum of any kind. It was written by and named after United States Congressman Francis G. Newlands.

In 1897 President of the United States William McKinley signed the treaty of annexation for Hawaii, but it failed in the Senate after the 21,000 signatures of the Kūʻē Petitions were submitted. After the failure, Hawaii was annexed by means of joint resolution, called the Newlands Resolution.

It was approved on July 4, 1898 and signed on July 7 by William McKinley. In August of the same year, a ceremony was held on the steps of ʻIolani Palace to signify the official transfer of Hawaiian sovereignty to the United States.

The Newlands Resolution established a five-member commission to study which laws were needed in Hawaii. The commission included: Territorial Governor Sanford B. Dole (R-Hawaii Territory), Senators Shelby M. Cullom (R-IL) and John T. Morgan (D-AL), Representative Robert R. Hitt (R-IL) and former Hawaii Chief Justice and later Territorial Governor Walter F. Frear (R-Hawaii Territory). The commission's final report was submitted to Congress for a debate which lasted over a year. Congress raised objections that establishing an elected territorial government in Hawaii would lead to the admission of a state with a non-white majority. On July 12, 1898, the Joint Resolution passed and the Hawaiian Islands was annexed by the United States. This allowed duty-free trade between the islands and the mainland, and made the existing American military presence permanent.

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