Presidents and Monarchs: Franklin Pierce and King Kamehameha III
Franklin Pierce, like the previous Democratic President (James K. Polk), was a believer in US expansionism. In 1853, Pierce's Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, advocated for a southern transcontinental railroad route. He persuaded Pierce to send rail magnate James Gadsden to Mexico to buy land for a potential railroad. Gadsden was also charged with re-negotiating provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which required the U.S. to prevent Native American raids into Mexico from New Mexico Territory. Pierce authorized Gadsden to negotiate a treaty offering $50 million for large portions of Northern Mexico, including all of Baja California. Gadsden was able to conclude a treaty with Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna in December 1853, purchasing a portion of the Mexican state of Sonora. This became known as the "Gadsden Purchase." Negotiations would have gone better, but for William Walker's unauthorized expedition into Mexico. Gadsden would later claim that, if not for Walker's expedition, Mexico would have ceded the Baja California Peninsula and more of the state of Sonora.
Northern congressmen saw this as another move designed to benefit the Slave Power. Congress reduced the Gadsden Purchase to the region now comprising southern Arizona and part of southern New Mexico. Congress also reduced the amount of money being paid to Mexico from $15 million to $10 million. The acquisition brought the contiguous United States more or less to its present-day boundaries
Pierce hoped to annex the Spanish island of Cuba, which possessed wealthy sugar plantations, and which held a strategic position in the Caribbean Sea. It also represented the possibility of a new slave state. When the Spanish seized a U.S. merchant ship in Havana, the Pierce administration considered invading Cuba, but the administration ultimately decided on focusing its efforts on the purchase of Cuba from Spain. Ambassadors Pierre Soulé, James Buchanan, and John Y. Mason drafted a document that proposed to purchase Cuba from Spain for $120 million, but also attempted to justify the "wresting" of Cuba from Spain if the offer were refused. The document, which became known as the Ostend Manifesto, was published and was met with scorn from northerners who viewed it as another attempt to annex a slave-holding possession.
During the Pierce administration, Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan in an effort to expand trade to the East. Perry signed a modest trade treaty with the Japanese shogunate which was successfully ratified. Perry also advocated the American colonization of Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Bonin Islands, but the Pierce administration did not endorse Perry's proposals.
Pierce attempted to purchase Samaná Bay from the Dominican Republic, but Dominican insistence on protection of the rights of Dominican citizens in the United States "without distinction of race or colour" prevented a treaty from being reached.
The Pierce administration explored the possibility of annexing the Kingdom of Hawaii. It was a valuable port for ships bound for the Asian market and Pierce once again set his sights on more territorial acquisition. He met with a strong adversary in King Kamehameha III, the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
The King was born at Keauhou Bay, on what we refer to as the Big Island of Hawaii. He was the second son of King Kamehameha I and his highest ranking wife, Queen Keōpūolani. He was 16 years younger than his brother Liholiho, who ruled as Kamehameha II starting in 1819. His full name was named Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kuakamanolani Mahinalani Kalaninuiwaiakua Keaweaweʻulaokalani. He was named after his maternal grandfather Kīwalaʻō. As a young man he was divided between the Puritan Christian guidelines imposed on the kingdom by the Queen Regent who was his stepmother, and his belief in honoring the old traditions. He rebelled against his Christian upbringing.
He came to the throne in 1825. Kamehameha III led the development of Hawaii's first formal written laws. In 1839, under a French threat of war, Roman Catholicism was legalized in the Edict of Toleration and the first statutory law code was established. Kamehameha III also enacted the Constitution of 1840, Hawaii's first constitution. He established judicial and executive branches of government, and a system of land ownership. Kamehameha III moved the capital from Lahaina to Honolulu.
In February 1843, British Captain Lord George Paulet pressured Kamehameha III into surrendering the Hawaiian kingdom to the British crown, but Kamehameha III resisted and alerted London of the captain's rogue action. This resulted in restoration of the kingdom's independence. Kamehameha developed a closeness to American and allowed them and other foreigners to own land fee simple in Hawaii. Many native Hawaiians were distressed by the domination of his cabinet by Americans. Hawaii continued to be beset by foreign conflicts when, in 1849, French Admiral Louis Tromelin led a French invasion of Honolulu. The French sacked and looted the city after the king refused his demands. In September 1849 the king sent with the heir apparent Prince Alexander Liholiho and Kamehameha V on a diplomatic mission. They returned with a new treaty with the United States.
Pierce hoped to capitalize on the good relations between the United States and Hawaii. But while good relations with the United States discouraged intervention from other nations, it had its drawbacks. The California Gold Rush brought increased trade, but also brought several waves of diseases that decimated the native Hawaiians who had no immunity. In the summer of 1853 an epidemic of smallpox caused thousands of deaths, mostly on the island of Oahu.
Hawaii became a popular winter destination for some Americans, who were rumored to be filibusters hoping to make a profit from a rebellion. One of the first was a group led by Samuel Brannan, but his group did not find the popular support for an uprising that he expected. By the end of 1853 the threats or Rebellion caused petitions for the king to consider annexation to the United States. U.S. Commissioner David L. Gregg received instructions from Secretary of State William L. Marcy to negotiated a treaty of annexation. But the treaty failed to achieve ratification in Congress. The stumbling block was the King's insistence on full citizenship for all Hawaiian citizens regardless of race. This was a deal-breaker for those in Congress who supported slavery and who believed in white supremacy. It precluded any possibility of annexation during Pierce's presidency.
Kamehameha III died suddenly on December 15, 1854 after a brief illness, which may have been related to a stroke. It would be over a century before Hawaii would achieve statehood.
Northern congressmen saw this as another move designed to benefit the Slave Power. Congress reduced the Gadsden Purchase to the region now comprising southern Arizona and part of southern New Mexico. Congress also reduced the amount of money being paid to Mexico from $15 million to $10 million. The acquisition brought the contiguous United States more or less to its present-day boundaries
Pierce hoped to annex the Spanish island of Cuba, which possessed wealthy sugar plantations, and which held a strategic position in the Caribbean Sea. It also represented the possibility of a new slave state. When the Spanish seized a U.S. merchant ship in Havana, the Pierce administration considered invading Cuba, but the administration ultimately decided on focusing its efforts on the purchase of Cuba from Spain. Ambassadors Pierre Soulé, James Buchanan, and John Y. Mason drafted a document that proposed to purchase Cuba from Spain for $120 million, but also attempted to justify the "wresting" of Cuba from Spain if the offer were refused. The document, which became known as the Ostend Manifesto, was published and was met with scorn from northerners who viewed it as another attempt to annex a slave-holding possession.
During the Pierce administration, Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan in an effort to expand trade to the East. Perry signed a modest trade treaty with the Japanese shogunate which was successfully ratified. Perry also advocated the American colonization of Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Bonin Islands, but the Pierce administration did not endorse Perry's proposals.
Pierce attempted to purchase Samaná Bay from the Dominican Republic, but Dominican insistence on protection of the rights of Dominican citizens in the United States "without distinction of race or colour" prevented a treaty from being reached.
The Pierce administration explored the possibility of annexing the Kingdom of Hawaii. It was a valuable port for ships bound for the Asian market and Pierce once again set his sights on more territorial acquisition. He met with a strong adversary in King Kamehameha III, the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
The King was born at Keauhou Bay, on what we refer to as the Big Island of Hawaii. He was the second son of King Kamehameha I and his highest ranking wife, Queen Keōpūolani. He was 16 years younger than his brother Liholiho, who ruled as Kamehameha II starting in 1819. His full name was named Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kuakamanolani Mahinalani Kalaninuiwaiakua Keaweaweʻulaokalani. He was named after his maternal grandfather Kīwalaʻō. As a young man he was divided between the Puritan Christian guidelines imposed on the kingdom by the Queen Regent who was his stepmother, and his belief in honoring the old traditions. He rebelled against his Christian upbringing.
He came to the throne in 1825. Kamehameha III led the development of Hawaii's first formal written laws. In 1839, under a French threat of war, Roman Catholicism was legalized in the Edict of Toleration and the first statutory law code was established. Kamehameha III also enacted the Constitution of 1840, Hawaii's first constitution. He established judicial and executive branches of government, and a system of land ownership. Kamehameha III moved the capital from Lahaina to Honolulu.
In February 1843, British Captain Lord George Paulet pressured Kamehameha III into surrendering the Hawaiian kingdom to the British crown, but Kamehameha III resisted and alerted London of the captain's rogue action. This resulted in restoration of the kingdom's independence. Kamehameha developed a closeness to American and allowed them and other foreigners to own land fee simple in Hawaii. Many native Hawaiians were distressed by the domination of his cabinet by Americans. Hawaii continued to be beset by foreign conflicts when, in 1849, French Admiral Louis Tromelin led a French invasion of Honolulu. The French sacked and looted the city after the king refused his demands. In September 1849 the king sent with the heir apparent Prince Alexander Liholiho and Kamehameha V on a diplomatic mission. They returned with a new treaty with the United States.
Pierce hoped to capitalize on the good relations between the United States and Hawaii. But while good relations with the United States discouraged intervention from other nations, it had its drawbacks. The California Gold Rush brought increased trade, but also brought several waves of diseases that decimated the native Hawaiians who had no immunity. In the summer of 1853 an epidemic of smallpox caused thousands of deaths, mostly on the island of Oahu.
Hawaii became a popular winter destination for some Americans, who were rumored to be filibusters hoping to make a profit from a rebellion. One of the first was a group led by Samuel Brannan, but his group did not find the popular support for an uprising that he expected. By the end of 1853 the threats or Rebellion caused petitions for the king to consider annexation to the United States. U.S. Commissioner David L. Gregg received instructions from Secretary of State William L. Marcy to negotiated a treaty of annexation. But the treaty failed to achieve ratification in Congress. The stumbling block was the King's insistence on full citizenship for all Hawaiian citizens regardless of race. This was a deal-breaker for those in Congress who supported slavery and who believed in white supremacy. It precluded any possibility of annexation during Pierce's presidency.
Kamehameha III died suddenly on December 15, 1854 after a brief illness, which may have been related to a stroke. It would be over a century before Hawaii would achieve statehood.