1875 treaty with granting tax free sugar trade w/ US (no tariff)
1887 treaty grants US Navy right to use Pearl Harbor
European powers were also expanding rapidly giving the US motivation to become a major player
the lucrative sugar trade drew American attention to Hawaii
Panic of 1893 - necessitate the search for foreign markets
the US was producing more than it could itself consume
the US didn't see ourselves as ¨taking over¨ but rather than moving into the ¨waste solitude”(according to TR) in the western US
missionaries had been traveling from the US to the Pacific and Asia all throughout the 19th century
the MONROE DOCTRINE