Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/251

Rh The petition was bitterly opposed by ex-Queen Liliuokalani, who was plotting hard to reëstablish herself upon the throne. But President McKinley considered it his duty to listen to what the many Americans in the islands desired, and on June 16, 1898, he approved a treaty which was shortly afterward ratified by the Senate, and the islands became the Territory of Hawaii, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

This was a most important epoch in our history, and one well worth remembering. It was the first move in the policy of expansion for which the McKinley administration afterward became so noted. In the past we had held no outside territory but that of Alaska; now war was to put us in possession of islands close at home and other islands thousands of miles away.

It was a great day in the Hawaiian Islands when the annexation was formally proclaimed. Cannon boomed, pistols cracked, drums rattled, bands played, and it was very much like an old-fashion Fourth of July here at home. The grounds around the government building were crowded with people of a score of nationalities, and all