page_title: Territory of Hawaii
section_title: Statehood
hierarchical_section_title: Territory of Hawaii / Statehood
context_page_description: The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900 until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding Palmyra Island, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii. The Hawaii Admission Act specified that the State of Hawaii would not include Palmyra Island, the Midway Islands, Kingman Reef, and Johnston Atoll, which includes Johnston Island and Sand Island.
  On July 4, 1898, the United States Congress passed the Newlands Resolution authorizing the U.S. annexation of the Republic of Hawaii, and five weeks later, on August 12, Hawaii became a U.S. territory. In April 1900 Congress approved the Hawaiian Organic Act which organized the territory.
context_section_description: The first Congressional bill for Hawaii statehood was proposed in 1919 by Kuhio Kalanianaole, and was based upon the argument that World War I had proved Hawaii’s loyalty. It was ignored, and proposals for Hawaii statehood were forgotten during the 1920s because the archipelago’s rulers believed that sugar planters’ interests would be better served if Hawaii remained a territory. Following the Jones-Costigan Act, another statehood bill was introduced to the House in May 1935 by Samuel Wilder King but it did not come to be voted on, largely because FDR himself strongly opposed Hawaii statehood, while “Solid South” Democrats who could not accept non-white Congressmen controlled all the committees.
  Hawaii resurrected the campaign in 1940 by placing the statehood question on the ballot. Two-thirds of the electorate in the territory voted in favor of joining the Union. After World War II, the call for statehood was repeated with even larger support, even from some mainland states. The reasons for the support of statehood were clear:
  Hawaii wanted the ability to elect its own governor
  Hawaii wanted the ability to elect the president
  Hawaii wanted an end to taxation without voting representation in Congress
  Hawaii suffered the first blow of the war
  Hawaii’s non-white ethnic populations, especially the Japanese, proved their loyalty by having served on the European frontlines
  Hawaii consisted of 90% United States citizens, most born within the U.S.
  A former officer of the Honolulu Police Department, John A. Burns, was elected Hawaii’s delegate to Congress in 1956. A Democrat, Burns won without the white vote but rather with the overwhelming support of Japanese and Filipinos in Hawaii. His election proved pivotal to the statehood movement. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., Burns began making key political maneuvers by winning over allies among Congressional leaders and state governors. Burns’ most important accomplishment was convincing Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) that Hawaii was ready to become a state, despite the continuing opposition of such Deep Southerners as James Eastland and John Sparkman.
  In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. On June 27, 1959, a plebiscite was held asking Hawaii residents to vote on accepting the statehood bill. The plebiscite passed overwhelmingly, with 94.3% voting in favor. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was finally a US state.
caption: All islands voted at least 93 percent in favor of Admission acts. Ballot (inset) and referendum results for the Admission Act of 1959.
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