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{{short description|Statute which established the State of Hawaii}} |
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<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:hawaiistatehoodcake.jpg|thumb|360px|In April 1959, Hawaii Delegate John A. Burns prepared to slice the Hawaii Statehood Cake at Capitol Hill with Democratic Congressmen D. S. Saund of California, James Haley of Florida and Al Ullman of Oregon.]] --> |
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The '''Admission Act''', formally '''An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union''' ({{USPL|86|3}}, enacted [[1959-03-18]]) is a statute enacted by the [[United States Congress]] and signed by [[President of the United States]] [[Dwight Eisenhower]] which dissolved the [[Territory of Hawaii]] and established the [[Hawaii|State of Hawaii]] as the fiftieth state of the Union. |
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{{Infobox U.S. legislation |
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| shorttitle = Hawaii Admission Act |
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| othershorttitles = |
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| longtitle = An Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union. |
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| colloquialacronym = |
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| nickname = Hawaii Statehood |
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| enacted by = 86th |
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| effective date = March 18, 1959 |
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| public law url = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-73/pdf/STATUTE-73-Pg4.pdf |
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| cite public law = 86-3 |
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| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|73|4}} |
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| acts amended = |
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| acts repealed = |
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| title amended = <!--US code titles changed--> |
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| sections created = <!--{{USC}} can be used--> |
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| sections amended = |
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| leghisturl = |
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| introducedin = Senate |
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| introducedbill = {{USBill|86|S.|50}} |
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| introducedby = <!--sponsor(s)--> |
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| introduceddate = |
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| committees = |
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| passedbody1 = Senate |
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| passeddate1 = March 11, 1959 |
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| passedvote1 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1959/s21 76–15] |
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| passedbody2 = House |
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| passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation --> |
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| passeddate2 = March 12, 1959 |
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| passedvote2 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1959/h6 323–89], in lieu of {{USBill|86|H.R.|4221}} |
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| conferencedate = |
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| passedbody3 = |
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| passeddate3 = |
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| passedvote3 = |
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| agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> |
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| agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> |
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| agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> |
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| agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> |
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| agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> |
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| agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> |
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| passedbody4 = |
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| passeddate4 = |
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| passedvote4 = |
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| signedpresident = [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] |
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| signeddate = March 18, 1959 |
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| unsignedpresident = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing --> |
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| unsigneddate = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing --> |
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| vetoedpresident = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| vetoeddate = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddenbody1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddendate1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddenvote1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddenbody2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddendate2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| overriddenvote2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> |
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| amendments = |
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| SCOTUS cases = |
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}} |
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The '''Admission Act''', formally '''An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union''' ({{USStatute|86|3|73|4|1959|03|18}}) is a [[statute]] enacted by the [[United States Congress]] and signed into law by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] which dissolved the [[Territory of Hawaii]] and established the [[Hawaii|State of Hawaii]] as the 50th [[U.S. state|state]] to be [[admission to the Union|admitted into the Union]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=11686 |title=Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Statement by the President Upon Signing the Hawaii Statehood Bill.," March 18, 1959 |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |publisher = University of California – Santa Barbara |work= The American Presidency Project |access-date= 3 April 2014}}</ref> Statehood became effective on August 21, 1959.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title48-chapter3-front&num=0&edition=prelim | title=48 USC 3 Hawaii}}</ref> Hawaii remains the most recent state to join the United States. |
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==Hawaii statehood and international law== |
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Because the document extended all the rights afforded to American citizens to a territory that had a non-white majority, the Act is considered the first [[civil rights]] legislation passed by the post-[[World War II]] Congress.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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Prior to 1959, Hawaii was an [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|organized incorporated territory of the United States]]. The territory was established in 1900 by the [[Hawaiian Organic Act]]. In 1946, the [[United Nations]] [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|listed]] Hawaii as a non-self-governing territory under the administration of the United States (Resolution 55(I) of 1946-12-14). Also listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the United States were [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], the [[Panama Canal Zone]], [[Puerto Rico]], the [[Territory of Alaska]], and the [[United States Virgin Islands]]. |
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== |
==Statehood vote== |
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[[Image:Hawaiivotesinset.JPG|thumb|300px|left|Copy of an official ballot (inset) and referendum results approving the Admission Act]] |
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Since Hawai‘i was a Territory of the United States in 1945, the [[United Nations]] in 1946 listed Hawai‘i as a non-self-Governing territory under the administration of the United States (Resolution 55(I) of [[1946-12-14]]). Also listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the United States were [[Alaska Territory]], [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Virgin Islands]]. |
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Out of a total population of 600,000 in the islands and 155,000 registered voters, 140,000 votes were cast, the highest turnout ever in Hawaii. The vote showed approval rates of at least 93% by voters on all major islands. Of the approximately 140,000 votes cast, fewer than 8,000 rejected the Admission Act of 1959. |
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===Opposition to statehood=== |
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===UN Obligations United States had to Hawai‘i (1946-1959)=== |
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The acceptance of statehood for Hawaii was not without its share of controversy. There were Native Hawaiians who protested against statehood. Prior to admission, various bills creating the state were stalled in congressional hearings since the early 1900s. There was a fear of establishing a state with an [[Asian Americans|Asian American]] plurality. Some lawmakers worried about the addition of Hawaii's residents to the United States, in light of protests and possibly split loyalties. |
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Between 1946 and 1959, the United States had: 1) a "sacred trust" obligation to the "inhabitants" of Hawai‘i 2) an annual reporting obligation to the General Assembly. |
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Upon the election of [[John A. Burns]] from the [[Hawaii Democratic Party]] as delegate of the Territory of Hawaii to Congress, southern leaders charged that Burns' election was evidence of Hawaii as a haven for [[communism]]. Burns, in 1959, would reflect on the obstacles against the statehood campaign and place more emphasis on the resistance to statehood in the islands, rather than in Washington itself. |
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America transmitted annual reports on Hawai‘i to the [[United Nations Secretary General]] from 1946 until September 1959. By a letter of [[September 17]], [[1959]], the United States notified the U.N. Secretary General that Hawai‘i had become a State of the Union in August 1959 and that the United States would thereafter cease to transmit information to the United Nations. |
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<blockquote> |
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===U.S. Violations of International Trust Obligations to the Nation of Hawai‘i=== |
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The reasons why Hawaii did not achieve statehood, say, ten years ago—and one could without much exaggeration say sixty years ago—lie not in the Congress but in Hawaii. The most effective opposition to statehood has always originated in Hawaii itself. For the most part it has remained under cover and has marched under other banners. Such opposition could not afford to disclose itself, since it was so decidedly against the interests and desires of Hawaii's people generally.<ref>[[John A. Burns]], "Statehood and Hawaii's People," State Government 32 (Summer 1959): 132</ref> |
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On [[November 27]], [[1953]], the Fourth Committee of the [[U.N. General Assembly]] passed Resolution 742. This resolution was entitled "Factors which should be taken into account in deciding whether a Territory is or is not a Territory whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government." Part I of the Resolution identified "Factors indicative of the attainment of Independence." Part II of the Resolution listed factors indicative of the attainment of "other separate systems of self-government." Part II of the Resolution addressed factors indicative of the Free Association of the territory as an integrate part of that country.{{unreferenced}} |
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</blockquote> |
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===Southern lawmakers=== |
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Hawai‘i was made a state of the Union without the possibility of independence or free association. The federal ballot used in 1959 did not afford the people of Hawai‘i "several possibilities, including independence" nor were the Hawaiian people given the option to create their own "separate system of government." Consequently, the Native people of Hawai‘i were not allowed to exercise the United Nations right "to self-determination."{{unreferenced}} |
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Burns was involved in vigorous lobbying of his colleagues persuading them that the race-based objections were unfair and charges that [[Communist Party of Hawaii|Communist]] sympathizers controlled Hawaii were false.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Upon leaving her seat as delegate from Hawaii, [[Elizabeth P. Farrington]] said, "Of course, [Democratic Majority Leader] Lyndon Johnson was no friend of statehood." Farrington added, "There were 22 times when he voted against us. He did everything he could, because he was representing the Southern racial opposition."{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Minutes from Johnson's tenure as head of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee indicate his repeated concessions on the issue to the segregationist Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Caro |first1=Robert |title=Master of the Senate |page=509}}</ref> |
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===Alice Kamokila Campbell=== |
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==Debate and controversy== |
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On the 53rd anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, January 17, 1946, Territorial Senator [[Alice Kamokilaikawai Campbell|Alice Kamokila Campbell]], one of the few voices that opposed statehood for Hawaii, offered her testimony to the joint congressional committee sent to investigate and report on statehood. Kamokila Campbell testified at Iolani Palace in front of a small crowd of 600 to frequent applause. There she stated. |
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The acceptance of statehood for Hawaii was not without its share of controversy. Various bills of admission were stalled in Congressional hearings since the early [[1900s]] because of the racial prejudices of many members of the [[United States House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate]]. There was a fear of establishing a state that was governed by an ethnic minority, namely the large [[Asian American]] population. Lawmakers questioned the American patriotism of Hawaii residents. Upon the election of [[John A. Burns]] from the [[Hawaii Democratic Party]] as delegate of the Territory of Hawaii to Congress, southern leaders charged that Burns' election was evidence of Hawaii as a haven for [[communism]]. |
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<blockquote> |
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<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:hawaiistatehoodplebiscite.jpg|thumb|313px|[[Boy Scouts of America|Boyscout]] Milton Motooka holds a placard reminding Hawaii residents to vote in the statehood [[referendum]] of June 27, 1959 to accept the Admission Act.]] --> |
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I do not feel...we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaii, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands.<ref>John S. Whitehead, "The Anti-Statehood Movement and the Legacy of Alice Kamokila Campbell" in The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 27 (1993) – Article on one of the few voices opposing statehood for Hawaii in 1959, that of a prominent public and cultural figure, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty and an heir of the James Campbell Estate.</ref> |
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===Southern lawmakers=== |
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</blockquote> |
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Burns was involved in vigorous lobbying of his colleagues persuading them that the race-based objections were unfair and charges that [[Communist Party]] sympathizers controlled Hawaii were blatant lies. Burns worked especially hard with the southerners, led by [[Lyndon Johnson]], who blocked the various Hawaii statehood bills. Upon leaving her seat as delegate from Hawaii, [[Elizabeth P. Farrington]] said, "Of course, Lyndon Johnson was no friend of statehood." She cited Johnson's fear that Hawaii would send representatives and senators to Congress who would oppose [[Racial segregation|segregation]]. Farrington added, "There were 22 times when he voted against us. He did everything he could, because he was representing the Southern racial opposition." |
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In 1947, Kamokila Campbell opened the Anti-Statehood Clearing House, where she sent "anti-statehood information, reports and arguments to congress."<ref>September 18, 1947, Honolulu Star-Bulletin</ref> |
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On March 29, 1949, Kamokila Campbell successfully sued the Hawaii Statehood Commission, to stop them from spending public money to lobby for statehood, invalidating a single section of the Act which created the Hawaii Statehood Commission.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/194934838haw3101308 | title=Campbell v. Stainback, et al., 1948}}</ref> |
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==Formation of the state== |
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The State of Hawaii's territory was defined thus in the Act: |
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{{quotation| |
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===Plantation owners=== |
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The State of Hawaii shall consist of all the islands, together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, included in the [[Territory of Hawaii]] on the date of enactment of this Act, except the atoll known as [[Palmyra Island]], together with its appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, but said State shall not be deemed to include the [[Midway Islands]], [[Johnston Island]], Sand Island (off-shore from Johnston Island), or [[Kingman Reef]], together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters.<ref>Hawaii Admission Act, s. 2</ref> |
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Statehood was supported by members of the [[Hawaii Republican Party]], controlled by powerful sugarcane plantation owners like the [[Big Five (Hawaii)|Big Five]]. The 1934 [[Jones-Costigan Act]], which was a part of the [[New Deal]] agricultural policies, placed Hawai‘i sugar interests at odds with federal legislation. Thus, by 1935, the Republican controlled Territorial legislature established the [[Hawaii Equal Rights Commission]] as a means to challenge any federal discrimination against Hawaii but to also initiate discussions about Hawaii statehood. Other businessmen like construction tycoon [[Walter F. Dillingham]] tried to influence Congressmen and visiting Senators that Hawaii did not need representation in Congress. Some businessmen like Walter Dillingham were able to make profit off of the territorial governmental structure through federal contracts. The Big Five and people like Dillingham was that the labor unions would be substantially strengthened, diminishing control over what types of benefits they would choose to give or withhold from their employees.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} |
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}} |
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== |
==References== |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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[[Image:Hawaiivotesinset.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Copy of official ballot (inset) and referendum results approving Admission Act.]] |
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A mixed vote in the population of anyone who resided in Hawaii over a year, showed approval rates of at least 93% by voters on all major islands (see adjacent figure for details). Of the approximately 140,000 votes cast, less than 8000 rejected the Admission Act of 1959. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.hawaii-nation.org/admission.html Hawaii-nation.org: "An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union"] — (Act of March 18, 1959, Pub L 86-3, § 1, 73 Stat 4) |
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On the morning of [[August 19]], [[2006]], state Representative Barbara Marumoto, dressed as the [[Statue of Liberty]], and state Senator [[Sam Slom]], waving a large [[American flag]], led a group of around fifty people to celebrate the admission of Hawai‘i as the 50th state at ‘Iolani Palace—the site where statehood was declared nearly forty-seven years earlier. This group’s state-sponsored commemoration, however, was blocked by Hawaiian grassroots activists, also estimated at around fifty, who were angered at Marumoto and Slom’s decision to hold the celebration on palace grounds, the site where the U.S. supported overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom had also taken place 113 years earlier. Carrying Hawaiian nationalist flags and signs that read “Kanaka Maoli Independence” protestors argued that ‘Iolani Palace “is a sacred spot, which is the seat of our government” and demanded that the statehood celebration take place next door at the state capitol. The two groups clashed when the statehood celebrators continued with their program and began to sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” without accompaniment from the Kalani high school band that decided to leave the event and not get involved. The Hawaiian group countered by using a public address system to interrupt the U.S. national anthem. Verbal arguments and near-physical confrontations followed and continued for over an hour until the statehood group, tired and frustrated, decided to disperse. The Hawaiian activists formed a circle and prayed. |
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121215152944/http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/48C3.txt UScode.house.gov: USC 48 Ch 3, S. 3 HAWAII] |
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{{Wikisource|Admission Act for Hawaii}} |
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==External Links== |
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{{Dwight D. Eisenhower}} |
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*[http://www.hawaii-nation.org/admission.html An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union] (Act of March 18, 1959, Pub L 86-3, § 1, 73 Stat 4) |
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*[http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/48C3.txt USC 48 Ch 3, S. 3 HAWAII] |
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[[Category:Legal history of Hawaii]] |
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==See also== |
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[[Category:1959 in Hawaii]] |
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* [[Enabling Act (United States)]] |
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* [[Alaska Statehood Act]] |
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[[Category:1959 in law]] |
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[[Category:Hawaii law]] |
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[[Category:History of Hawaii]] |
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[[Category:Legal history of the United States]] |
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[[Category:United States federal civil rights legislation]] |
[[Category:United States federal civil rights legislation]] |
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[[Category:United States federal territory and statehood legislation]] |
[[Category:United States federal territory and statehood legislation]] |
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[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Hawaii]] |
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[[Category:86th United States Congress]] |
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[[Category:1959 in the United States]] |
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 | |
| Long title | An Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union. |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Hawaii Statehood |
| Enacted by | the 86th United States Congress |
| Effective | March 18, 1959 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 86-3 |
| Statutes at Large | 73 Stat. 4 |
| Legislative history | |
| |
The Admission Act, formally An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 86–3, 73 Stat. 4, enacted March 18, 1959) is a statute enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower which dissolved the Territory of Hawaii and established the State of Hawaii as the 50th state to be admitted into the Union.[1] Statehood became effective on August 21, 1959.[2] Hawaii remains the most recent state to join the United States.
Prior to 1959, Hawaii was an organized incorporated territory of the United States. The territory was established in 1900 by the Hawaiian Organic Act. In 1946, the United Nations listed Hawaii as a non-self-governing territory under the administration of the United States (Resolution 55(I) of 1946-12-14). Also listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the United States were American Samoa, Guam, the Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, the Territory of Alaska, and the United States Virgin Islands.
Out of a total population of 600,000 in the islands and 155,000 registered voters, 140,000 votes were cast, the highest turnout ever in Hawaii. The vote showed approval rates of at least 93% by voters on all major islands. Of the approximately 140,000 votes cast, fewer than 8,000 rejected the Admission Act of 1959.
The acceptance of statehood for Hawaii was not without its share of controversy. There were Native Hawaiians who protested against statehood. Prior to admission, various bills creating the state were stalled in congressional hearings since the early 1900s. There was a fear of establishing a state with an Asian American plurality. Some lawmakers worried about the addition of Hawaii's residents to the United States, in light of protests and possibly split loyalties.
Upon the election of John A. Burns from the Hawaii Democratic Party as delegate of the Territory of Hawaii to Congress, southern leaders charged that Burns' election was evidence of Hawaii as a haven for communism. Burns, in 1959, would reflect on the obstacles against the statehood campaign and place more emphasis on the resistance to statehood in the islands, rather than in Washington itself.
The reasons why Hawaii did not achieve statehood, say, ten years ago—and one could without much exaggeration say sixty years ago—lie not in the Congress but in Hawaii. The most effective opposition to statehood has always originated in Hawaii itself. For the most part it has remained under cover and has marched under other banners. Such opposition could not afford to disclose itself, since it was so decidedly against the interests and desires of Hawaii's people generally.[3]
Burns was involved in vigorous lobbying of his colleagues persuading them that the race-based objections were unfair and charges that Communist sympathizers controlled Hawaii were false.[citation needed] Upon leaving her seat as delegate from Hawaii, Elizabeth P. Farrington said, "Of course, [Democratic Majority Leader] Lyndon Johnson was no friend of statehood." Farrington added, "There were 22 times when he voted against us. He did everything he could, because he was representing the Southern racial opposition."[citation needed] Minutes from Johnson's tenure as head of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee indicate his repeated concessions on the issue to the segregationist Senator Richard Russell.[4]
On the 53rd anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, January 17, 1946, Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, one of the few voices that opposed statehood for Hawaii, offered her testimony to the joint congressional committee sent to investigate and report on statehood. Kamokila Campbell testified at Iolani Palace in front of a small crowd of 600 to frequent applause. There she stated.
I do not feel...we should forfeit the traditional rights and privileges of the natives of our islands for a mere thimbleful of votes in Congress, that we, the lovers of Hawaii from long association with it should sacrifice our birthright for the greed of alien desires to remain on our shores, that we should satisfy the thirst for power and control of some inflated industrialists and politicians who hide under the guise of friends of Hawaii, yet still keeping an eagle eye on the financial and political pressure button of subjugation over the people in general of these islands.[5]
In 1947, Kamokila Campbell opened the Anti-Statehood Clearing House, where she sent "anti-statehood information, reports and arguments to congress."[6]
On March 29, 1949, Kamokila Campbell successfully sued the Hawaii Statehood Commission, to stop them from spending public money to lobby for statehood, invalidating a single section of the Act which created the Hawaii Statehood Commission.[7]
The State of Hawaii's territory was defined thus in the Act:
The State of Hawaii shall consist of all the islands, together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, included in the Territory of Hawaii on the date of enactment of this Act, except the atoll known as Palmyra Island, together with its appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, but said State shall not be deemed to include the Midway Islands, Johnston Island, Sand Island (off-shore from Johnston Island), or Kingman Reef, together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters.[8]
