page_title: Legal status of Hawaii
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Legal status of Hawaii / Background
caption_attribution_description: James Henderson Blount. Library of Congress description: "Blount, Hon. James H. of Georgia"
context_page_description: The legal status of Hawaii—as opposed to its political status—is a settled legal matter as it pertains to United States law, but there has been scholarly and legal debate. While Hawaii is internationally recognized as a state of the United States of America while also being broadly accepted as such in mainstream understanding, there have been essays written denying the legality of this status. The argument is that Hawaii is an independent nation under military occupation. The legality of control of Hawaii by the United States has also been raised in the losing side in cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, and in U.S. District Court.
context_section_description: The islands that we know of today as Hawaii were settled by Polynesian explorers some time around 1150-1250 AD. The inhabitants are referred to as kānaka maoli. After 1778, and the arrival of James Cook, populations levels changed drastically and eventually the islands would be unified in 1795 under the leadership of Kamehameha I. Within one hundred years of the founding of the kingdom, American political and religious influence would erode the powers of the Polynesian monarchs and eventually overthrow the kingdom on January 17, 1893.
caption: James Blount
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