Home: The Annexation Of Hawaii: A Collection Of Document
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62-04640 FOREWORD This compilation of pages reproduced from the Congressional Record has been prepared in order to provide a convenient reference source for study of the debates in Congress at the time of enactment of Hawaii's Organic Act. Several considerations prompted the photographic reproduction of pertinent parts from the Congressional Record in a single volume. Debate at the time of the passage of the Organic Act furnishes, as do the debates of Constitutional Conventions for the federal and state constitutions, a valuable source of information in understanding and interpreting provisions of the Organic Act. These debates in the original binding are contained in sets of volumes of from six to seven thousand pages for each session of Congress and are printed without full subject indices, making necessary the reading and handling of a large number of volumes and pages in order to cite debate regarding a particular section of the Organic Act. In addition, these volumes, dating from 1900, are now well worn and in danger of loss by frequent use. The present volume, one of a series which will ultimately contain reproductions of all Congressional debates concerning Hawaii, the Organic Act and its amendments, deals with the debate on the original Bill which ultimately became the Organic Act. Hawaii was annexed as a part of the territory of the United States by Joint Resolution (H. Res. 259) of the 55th Congress, Second Session. In the Third Session of the 55th Congress, meeting from December 5, 1898 to March 3, 1899, two Bills were introduced which would have provided a government for the Hawaiian Islands. These were S. 4893 and H. R. 10990, neither of which passed or received extended debate at that session. Senate Bill 4893 was introduced December 6, 1898, by Mr. Cullom, read twice by its title and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. It was reported from the Committee with amendments December 21, and was brought before the Senate March 1, 1899 by Mr. Cullom, who made an explanatory speech. No further action was taken. H. R. 10990 suffered much the same fate. It was introduced December 6, 1898, and referred to the Committee on Territories. The Committee reported it with amendments January 23, 1899, accompanied by Report No. 1808, and it was referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. The 55th Congress adjourned before it was debated or acted upon. At the First Session of the 56th Congress, meeting from December 4, 1899 to June 7, 1900, Bills were introduced both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives providing for an Organic Act for the Territory of Hawaii. These were H. R. 2972 and S. 222. It is the latter Bill which finally became the Organic Act. Extended debate was given to this Bill in both the Senate and the House, and House amendments were added to the Senate Bill. i