By what means did U.S.A. acquire Hawaii?

So your thinking is that all the presidents since 1959, and all the attorneys general since then, have not noticed that Hawaii isn’t a state? The seems more than a little hard to believe.

Or are you referring to the wacky conspiracy theories like this and this

Hawaii was acquired the way the rest of the world was gobbled up by Europeans—straight up theft.

@stanleybmanly
That would be tough since territories, historically, become states by their own request (petition).

They saw what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor and what WE did to Japan, and gave themselves over to us without contest.

In 1959 it was approved for Hawaii to achieve statehood.
Hawaiians voted a couple of months later in favor of statehood.
As a result, we got a new flag design which is the one we know today.

If Hawaii isn’t a state, neither is half the contiguous 48. After all, Louisiana really wasn’t France’s to sell.

The US acquired Hawaii in 1898 via the Newlands Resolution. It became a state in 1959 after the passage and enactment of the Hawaii Admission Act.

President Obama, of course, was born in 1961.

Try reading the Hawaiian history section on Encyclopedia Britannica.

The gobbling up @stanleybmanly mentioned occurred in 1887 – 1893, followed by annexation to US Territory status in 1900:

“King Kalakaua, who would be the last king of Hawaii, had lobbied for the Reciprocity Treaty. He lost the support of the planter class because of his attempts to revive Hawaiian culture and because of his profligate spending. In 1887 a company of “white” troops, the Honolulu Rifles, helped force upon him the Bayonet Constitution, which severely limited his powers and which allowed suffrage for the wealthy residents (who were generally American or European). When his successor, Queen Liliuokalani, seemed as if she would abrogate that constitution, the Committee of Safety, a group of American and European businessmen, some of whom were citizens of the kingdom, seized power in 1893, with the help of a company of U.S. Marines from the U.S.S. Boston, at anchor in the harbour. The U.S. government, under Pres. Grover Cleveland, refused to annex the territory, however, noting that the overthrow of the monarchy was an “act of war” accomplished against popular will using U.S. armed force (see primary source document: Controversy over Hawaii). A short-lived republic (an oligarchy of American and European businessmen) ensued, until the administration of Pres. William McKinley annexed the islands as U.S. territory in 1900.”

Oh god. Not this crap again.