( Cet article sera bientôt traduit. )
August 21 marks Statehood Day in Hawaii, which joined the Union on August 21, 1959, culminating a process that was essentially decades in the making. The United States formally annexed Hawaii in 1898, five years after a U.S.-backed coup removed Hawaiian monarch Queen Liliuokalani. Hawaii became an organized incorporated territory and maintained that status well into the 20th century. In 1919, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana?ole proposed the first Hawaiian statehood legislature to Congress, though it would be some four decades before Hawaii’s admission to the United States as a bona fide state.
The notion of annexing Hawaii as a state was not without notable opposition. Some on the mainland leery about declaring statehood to an incontiguous Pacific island. Meanwhile, there were many on the island who didn’t want to sacrifice a sense of cultural independence for the sake of statehood. One of the most prominent anti-statehood advocates was Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, who on January 17, 1946, spoke before a crowd at Iolani Palace saying, “I do not feel [...] we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress.” She further had concerns that politicians and capitalists from the mainland would use their money and power to exert control over Hawaii’s future.
Still, headwinds against statehood were relatively light at the time. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act into law on March 18, 1959, and an election on the matter was held in Hawaii a few months later on June 27, 1959, revealing 93% approval across the major islands. Hawaii was formally admitted as the nation’s 50th state on August 21, 1959. In short order, a so-called “Tiki craze” swept the nation, bringing rattan furniture, luaus, tiki torches, and other polynesian-inspired touches to homes, restaurants, and motels across the United States. You can add some Hawaiian flair to your own coin collection on Statehood Day with the addition of the 2008 Hawaiian State Quarter, anchored by a motif of King Kamehameha I gesturing proudly toward the eight major islands of Hawaii.