Question

Explain the effect the McKinley Tariff had on the U.S.-Hawaiian relationship.

Answer 1

Answer:

Hawaii had long attracted the interest of American businessmen in the lucrative sugar trade. The United States federal government had provided generous terms to the sugar growers of Hawaii in the treaties of 1849 and 1875 and American businessmen had acquired substantial fortunes in the islands. The McKinley Tariff proved to a turning point in the relations between the US and Hawaii. In 1890 the United States Congress approved the McKinley Tariff, which raised import rates on foreign sugar. This had an alarming effect on the sugar planters in Hawaii who, as a direct result of the McKinley Tariff, were being undersold in the American market. The McKinley Act removed the duty on all raw sugar coming into the US, which deprived Hawaiian sugar producers of their privileged status.