This Day…

It happened this week in 1841 – Two Hawaiian ambassadors were in Washington, D.C., for about two weeks, when they received a letter from Daniel Webster, secretary of state.  It declared “as the sense of the government of the United States, that the government of the Sandwich Island (Hawaii) ought to be respected; that no power ought either to take possession of the islands as a conquest or for the purpose of colonization, and that no power ought to seek for any undue control over the existing government, or any exclusive privileges or preferences in matters of commerce.’  Armed with this informal recognition of independence by the US Government, the two ambassadors soon set off for London and Paris.  Meanwhile, various Americans had already assumed positions of some influence in the Hawaiian Government, and increasing numbers of American whaling ships are putting into Hawaii for supplies.