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Hawaii Organic Act: Congressional debates on Hawaii Organic Act

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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.
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