Hawaii's Last Queen on American Annexation

During our recent class discussion, we read and (kind of) discussed Queen Liliuokalani's famous speech towards the annexation of Hawaii. I found this speech to be very effective because of several points she made within her speech. Queen Liliuokalani spoke in a way that did not intentionally put another country down, in which she did not say Hawaii was better than others or that there natural ways were superior to another countries developed ways. Within her speech, I found several points that are worth reading and mentioning. The sentence in which she expresses that: "And where else in the world's history is it written that a savage people, pagan for ages, with fixed hereditary customs and beliefs, have made equal progress in civilization and Christianity in the same space of time?" I found this part of her speech to be very meaningful because here she explains that although their own ways and beliefs are different from others, that does not mean that their efforts are any less important than the strive that America believed in. This sentence shows that Queen Liliuokalani believed that their people were just as good as any other, with respect to their own "customs and beliefs."

Another part of her speech that I thought was very effective was: "But will it also be thought strange that education and knowledge of the world have enabled us to perceive that as a race we have some special mental and physical requirements not shared by other races which have come among us? That certain habits and modes of living are better for our health and happiness than others?" This part explains that Queen Liliuokalani recognized that foreign ways and beliefs do not stand for every country, in which the foreigners were somewhat naive because they felt that if things were not done a certain way, that different way would be ultimately wrong.

One last point that I found was very effective within her speech was: "And while we sought by peaceful political means to maintain the dignity of the throne... we never sought to rob any citizen, wherever born, of either property, franchise, or social standing." This line stood out to me because although Hawaii was going through this hard time, Queen Liliuokalani still believed as though she would never do this act to another country whether they were superior or not.

All in all I felt that Queen Liliuokalani's speech towards Hawaii's annexation was very effective because she pointed out factors that made a lot of sense which ultimately should have given her a usable debate towards the foreigners who sought to take her country away.