The American Frontier in Hawaii: The Pioneers, 1789-1843.
By Harold W. Bradley. Stanford University, Calif. (Stan-
ford University Press), 1942. Pp. xi+488. $4.50.

The author might as appropriately have entitled this book
Hawaii: The Crossroads of the Pacific, Íor his theme is a dual
one, showing the early realization of the importance of Ha-
waii's location and making clear that Hawaii was the farthest
American frontier as early as 1800.

Yankee traders, seeking new routes of trade in the period
after the Revolution, did not need a "Pearl Harbor" to convince
them of Hawaii's strategic location. A brief reference in the
official account of Captain Cook's last voyage of 1784 that the
"Chinese merchants of Canton had shown more than a casual
interest in furs" was enough to take these enterprising New
England shipmasters to the North Pacific; they did not fail
to take advantage of the Sandwich Islands as a port of call
for supplies and possible trade. The first ship flying the Amer-
ican flag, the Columbia, touched at these islands in August,
1789; within ten years the majority of vessels found in Ha-
waiian ports flew the flag of the United States. Only a global
map will show the reader what these early sea captains knew:
that ships from the east coast of the United States, bound for
California, Oregon, Alaska, Japan, or China, must pass within
calling distance of Hawaii.

Whalers, traders, and adventurers were not the only New
Englanders to discover quickly and take advantage of the op-
portunities which these islands offered. The first group of
Calvinist missionaries was sent out by the American Board and
arrived on March 30, 1820, under the leadership of Hiram
Bingham and Asa Thurston. They arrived at a propitious
time, for contact with foreigners had broken down the kapus of
the native religion. With characteristic zeal these pioneer
preachers set about to transplant Puritan blue laws to the land
of the hula. In this they had to contend with not only the
pleasure-loving- nature of the Hawaiians but also the bitter
enmity of the foreign business men who resented the soon pow-
erful influence of the missionaries. "Although few in number,
they we're destined, by precept and example, to mold the char-
acter and habits of thousands of Hawaiians and to play a
major role in the evolution of the political and social institutions
of the islands."

To many, the story of this political and social evolution will
be the most interesting part of this many-sided book. Rule
over the entire archipelago was first established by King Kame-
hameha I, in 1810. From that time until 1843, when Hawaiian
independence was internationally recognized, the government
of the islands encountered many difficulties. Only jealousy on
the part of England, France, and the United States prevented
the islands from being seized by one of these rivals. Most
historians have missed the significance of the extension of the
Monroe Doctrine to the mid-Pacific by President Tyler in 1842.

Historians of our frontier, who tell of the jump of that
frontier from the wooded central states to the Pacific coast and
then backwashing into the area jumped over, have generally
mismeasured that historic leap by some 2000 miles. Hawaii
was a true American frontier before either California or Ore-
gon knew many pioneers from the United States. Students
of our relations with England in regard to the Texas, Cali-
fornia, and Oregon questions should not overlook the fact that
there was also during the same period a Hawaiian question
involving the same parties and principles.

Professor Bradley is obviously thoroughly acquainted with
the source material on Hawaii. It is hoped that he will soon
publish another such book dealing with the period from 1843
to 1900 showing the forces involved in making these islands
American in fact and name.

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas

Charles G. Whitwell

How to cite:
"American Frontier in Hawaii", Volume 47, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v047/n1/review_DIVL1615.html
[Accessed Thu Dec 4 12:53:32 CST 2008]