The Transplantation of American Democratic Institutions: The Case of Hawaii

Abstract

A most revealing aspect of the relationship between the United States and Hawaii has been the attempts at transplantation of American democracy to the Hawaiian Islands. A superficial examination of the interaction between the United States and Hawaii leads to an overemphasis upon the vigor and dynamism of Hawaii's democracy, but during a long period prior to 1945, in which American influence was substantial, American democracy in Hawaii was not overwhelmingly successful. The failure of homesteading in Hawaii is one example of this. Hawaii's approach to homesteading was necessarily very different from the approach used on the mainland of the United States. Hawaii had no great supply of virgin land waiting to be put to use. Small-scale familyfarm type of homesteading seems particularly adaptable where there is a noticeable lack of capital and where a wilderness exists that will yield only to hard, slow, manual labor. Hawaii did go through a period when the development of public lands was something to be encouraged, but at no time in her modern history has there been a situation in which a vast acreage of arable lands was lying in need of development for agricultural purposes. Once the seed of sugar cane had been planted, the growth of the industry was rapid in terms of the acreage used. Homesteading, not really introduced as a major consideration or policy until the late eighteen-