A group of US businessmen overthrew the Queen of Hawai'i, took over the government, and requested that the United States annex the island chain. The US Marines were sent to Hawai'i as peacekeepers, but there were some reports that they were actively supporting the rebel government. Two men were sent separately to Hawai'i on fact-finding missions, to find out what's going on over there. One was sent by Pres. Benjamin Harrison, who believed in Manifest Destiny and favored the annexation of Hawai'i. After Pres. Cleveland, a supporter of Hawai'i's Queen Lili'uokalani, retook office in 1893, he sent the other. The two reports that the men submitted differed greatly. On the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, a native Hawaiian student stated that the truth about what happened in Hawai'i around 1893 lies somewhere between the two reports. Eventually Cleveland gave in to the Republicans because Queen Lili'uokalani refused Cleveland's deal, which was for her to pardon the American rebels in exchange for help getting her restored to her throne.
In the speech, Wilson said that war was necessary because Germany continued to have unrestricted submarine warfare and tried to get Mexico to go against United States.
