From good ol’ wiki, once again:

“….Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii, also known as Kamehameha I and Kamehameha the Great (circa 1758 – 1819), unified the Hawaiian Islands in battle and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1810…

…Kamehameha’s dreams included far more than the island of Hawaiʻi; with the council of his favorite wife Kaʻahumanu, who became one of Hawaiʻi’s most powerful figures, he set about planning to conquer the rest of the Hawaiian Islands. Help came from British and American traders, who sold guns and ammunition to Kamehameha. Two westerners who were resident on Hawaiʻi, Isaac Davis and John Young, trained Kamehameha’s troops in use of the firearms.

With his new weapons, Kamehameha felt confident enough to move on the neighboring islands of Maui and Oʻahu, already weakened by a war of succession that broke out between King Kahekili’s sons. Kamehameha may or may not have known that his rival, Kalanikupule, also possessed firearms, and was planning a move against Kamehameha when the aliʻi nui of Hawaiʻi invaded the western islands.

In 1795, Kamehameha set sail with an armada of 1,200 war canoes and 10,000 soldiers - an incredible number for an island chain whose population had never exceeded 300,000. Kamehameha quickly secured the lightly defended islands of Maui and Molokaʻi, and moved on the island of Oʻahu, landing his troops at Waiʻalae and Waikīkī. What Kamehameha did not know was that one of his commanders, a high-ranking aliʻi named Kaʻiana, had defected to Kalanikupule. Kaʻiana assisting the cutting of notches into the Nuʻuanu Pali mountain ridge; these notches, like those on a castle turret, would serve as gunports for Kalanikupule’s cannon.

When Kamehameha moved on the Pali, his troops took heavy fire from the cannon. In desperation, he assigned two divisions of his best warriors to climb to the Pali. Converging on the cannons from behind, they surprised Kalanikupule’s gunners and took control of the cannons. With the loss of their guns, Kalanikupule’s troops fell into disarray, and many were driven off the cliffs of the Pali. Kaʻiana was killed during the action; Kalanikupule was captured some time later and sacrificed to Kukaʻilimoku.

Kamehameha was now aliʻi nui of all of Hawaiʻi east of Oʻahu…”

An unabriged edition of “Roughing It” — humourous travels of Mark Twain in the American West, 1860’s and 70’s, includes a visit to the Hawaiian Islands; Twain says that at that time, it was possible to visit this battlefield (Pali cliffs) where the warriors had been driven off the cliffs, and still find the bones of the dead lying on the ground.

From wiki on GC:

“…In 1893, Cleveland sent former Congressman James Henderson Blount to Hawaii to investigate the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and the establishment of a provisional government. He supported Blount’s scathing report which blamed the U.S. for the overthrow; called for the restoration of Liliuokalani; and withdrew from the Senate the treaty of annexation of Hawaii.

When the deposed Queen refused to grant amnesty as a condition of her reinstatement, and said she would execute the current government in Honolulu, Cleveland referred the matter to Congress. The Senate then produced the Morgan Report, which completely contradicted Blount’s findings and found the overthrow was a completely internal affair.

Following the Turpie Resolution of May 31, 1894, which vowed a policy of non-interference in Hawaiian affairs, Cleveland dropped all support for reinstating the Queen, and further went on to officially recognize and maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of Hawaii declared on July 4, 1894….”

Recall that Grover Cleveland is the only US President to serve two non-consecutive terms, also he’s the only US Democratic party Prez between 1865 and 1912.

As regards US annexation of Hawaii, some of the same considerations apply as with the Phillippines; weak local government, other colonial powers are interested. Hawaiian royalty allowed foreigners of doubtful loyalty to become citizens as the kingdom evolved during the 19th century; maybe instead they should have treated them all like they did CPT Cooke back in the 1700’s.

Should Cleveland have sent in US troops against “his own countrymen” (technically they were subjects of the Hawaiian Queen) who had revolted in Hawaii and set up a republic? (1893, not 1883, Arg). US wasn’t supposed to be in the business of supporting monarchies; the memory of our revolutionary heritage was a little more powerful a consideration in politics back in those days, particulary with the growing Irish-American population.

If you want to use US history as a argumentative tool, how about projecting some lessons from these historical dilemmas into the future and let the US know what you think it should do ahead of time. For example, what if Uri gets re-elected next year and Baduk’s Korean cousins get together and stage a military coup (as he longs for)? Should US interfere in ROK internal affairs to restore democratic government?

I sure don’t want the US to repeat our previous “colonial” mistakes concerning independent Asian countries.

Wiki quote follows

>>…..[In the 1840's] Non-Hawaiian residents also pushed for a change in the land tenure practices of the kingdom. Land was held at the will of the chiefs, and could be taken at any time. The non-residents wished to hold land in fee simple, according to their own customs. The ruling chiefs were eventually persuaded to allow the land to be surveyed and divided between the king, the chiefs, and the commoners. Westerners would then be able to purchase land or register land claims. The Great mahele (land division) was signed into law on March 7, 1848 by King Kamehameha III, or Kauikeaouli, son of Kamehameha I.

On March 18, 1874 Hawaiʻi signed a treaty with the United States granting Americans exclusive trading rights.

The 1876 Reciprocity Treaty between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States allowed for duty free importation of Hawaiian grown sugar (from cane) into the United States. This act greatly altered the Hawaiian landscape by promoting sugar plantation agriculture. Although the treaty also included duty free importation of rice, which was by this time becoming a major crop in the abandoned taro loʻi of the wetter parts of the islands, it was the influx of immigrants from Asia (first Chinese, and later Japanese) needed to support the escalating sugar industry, that provided the impetus for expansion of rice growing in Hawaiʻi. Thus the Treaty had several far reaching impacts on Hawaiʻi:

Sugar cane and plantation agriculture expanded greatly.
High water requirements for growing sugar cane resulted in extensive water works projects on all of the major islands to divert streams from the wet, windward slopes to the dry lowlands.
An influx of Asian immigrants was encouraged to work the plantations.
The traditional Hawaiian staple (taro) was replaced by rice growing to satisfy an expanding local market for the latter.

Overthrow and annexation
Main articles: Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and Republic of Hawaii
Up to the 1890s, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was independent and had been recognized by the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany with exchange of ambassadors. This did not, however, mean there were not threats to the Kingdom’s sovereignty made during that time.

The most serious incident occurred on February 10, 1843. Lord George Paulet of the Royal Navy warship HMS Carysfort entered Honolulu Harbor and captured the Honolulu fort, effectively gaining control of the town. Paulet then demanded King Kamehameha III abdicate and that the Hawaiian Islands be ceded to the British Crown. Under the guns of the frigate, Kamehameha stepped down, but lobbied a formal protest with both the British government and Paulet’s superior, Admiral Richard Thomas. Thomas repudiated Paulet’s actions, and on July 31, 1843, restored the Hawaiian government. In his restoration speech, Kamehameha declared that “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono” (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness), the motto of the future State of Hawaiʻi.

In 1887, a group of American-born cabinet officials and advisors to King David Kalākaua and an armed militia forced the king to promulgate what is today known as the Bayonet Constitution. The constitution was in response to Kalakaua’s capricious use of power, and it stripped the monarchy of much of its authority. Asians were completely removed from the voting population and over 75% of the native Hawaiian population lost its right to vote in its own elections through significant income and property requirements. Only well-to-do Europeans, Americans and Hawaiians were given full voting rights. When Kalākaua died in 1891, his sister Liliʻuokalani assumed the throne. With lukewarm support of native Hawaiians and other Hawaiian citizens, in defiance of the constitution she had sworn to uphold, the queen drafted a new constitution that would restore the monarchy’s authority and strip American and European residents of the suffrage they had obtained in 1887.

In response to Liliʻuokalani’s attempt to subvert the constitution of 1887, a group of European and American Hawaiian citizens and residents in Hawaiʻi formed a committee of safety to prevent the queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from enacting on her threat to abrogate the current constitution on January 14, 1893. United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, worried about possible threats to non-combatant American lives and property, summoned a company of uniformed U.S. Marines from the U.S.S. Boston and two companies of U.S. sailors to land on the Kingdom and take up positions at the U.S. Legation, Consulate, and Arion Hall on the afternoon of January 16th, 1893.

During the overthrow, the Japanese Imperial Navy gunboat Naniwa was docked at Pearl Harbor. The gunboat’s commander, Heihachiro Togo, who would later go on to command the Japanese battleship fleet at Tsushima, refused to accede to the Provisional Government’s demands that he strike the colors of the Kingdom, but later lowered the colors on order of the Japanese Government. The Japanese Consulate-General, Suburo Fujii, quickly recognized the Provisional Government as the legitimate successor to the monarchy, along with every other international legation in Honolulu.

A provisional government was set up without substantial support among indigenous Hawaiians or the government, but had the strong support of the Honolulu Rifles, a militia group which had defended the Kingdom against rebellion in 1889. Under this pressure, Liliʻuokalani gave up her throne to the Committee of Safety. The Queen’s statement yielding authority, on January 17, 1893, also pleaded for justice:

I Liliʻuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.
That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.
Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.
A hasty investigation established by President Cleveland was conducted by former Congressman James Henderson Blount, and concluded on July 17, 1893, “United States diplomatic and military representatives had abused their authority and were responsible for the change in government.”

Minister Stevens was recalled, and the military commander of forces in Hawaiʻi was forced to resign his commission. President Cleveland stated “Substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair the monarchy.” Cleveland further stated in his 1893 State of the Union Address that, “Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention.” Submitting the matter to Congress on December 18, 1893, after President Sanford Dole refused to reinstate the Queen on Cleveland’s command, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Chairman Morgan, continued investigation into the matter.

On February 26, 1894, the Morgan Report was submitted, exonerating Stevens and the U.S. troops from any involvement in the overthrow. In response to this report, Cleveland backed off from his previous rhetoric surrounding the overthrow, and conducted normal diplomatic relations with the Provisional Government, and the Republic of Hawaii. He rebuffed entreaties from the Queen to interfere further in the matter, and in a stunning turnaround accepted the legitimacy of the overthrow he had so virulently castigated.

The Republic of Hawaiʻi was established July 4, 1894 under the presidency of Sanford Dole.

The Hawaiian people petitioned the U.S. government to halt the annexation.In 1896, William McKinley replaced Cleveland as president. Two years later, he signed the Newlands Resolution which provided for the official annexation of Hawaiʻi on July 7, 1898 and the islands officially became Hawaiʻi Territory, a United States territory, on February 22, 1900.

This despite various treaties between the US and Hawaii and peaceful relations.

I believe the american came up with principle of “Manifest Destiny” as well to justify their colonialism…

“WMD” was the catch phrase at the time. Like “Pro-family(anti-gay)”, it got the US going.

However, the main reason the US got into Iraq was that Hussein was gathering some support on selling oil in Euros, instead of dollars. The US needed a foothold in the middleEast as well, eventually to eradicate Islam terrorists.

Bush is a great president. He is working toward the security of the USA. He is pro-active toward that goal. Only lightweights like yourself want to derail his efforts and send the US back to the 9/11 situation, where the country is wide open for further attacks by Islam fundamental terrorists.

And, South Korean Commies as well.

The US will just kill these mothers who threaten the security of the good Old USA. And, the US has a right to do that. Don’t you think? If your neighbor keeps on threatening on the record that he would kill you, is it a crime to kill him first?

The US has enough weapons and soldiers to wipe out North Korea from the face of the earth. I hope American soldiers kill enough South Korean Commies as well.