He secured almost double the average annual increase of territory credited to any or all previous administrations.
Briefly stated, the several former annexations were as follows:
Amount Paid. Square Miles. Louisiana $15,000,000 1,171,931 Florida 5,000,000 52,268 Texas 28,500,000 376,133 California 545,783 Gadsden Purchase 10,500,000 45,535 Alaska 7,200,000 577,390 ——————————— ————————— $66,200,000 2,769,040
Amount Paid. Square Miles. Hawaii 6,740 Philippine Islands $20,000,000 114,000 Porto Rico 3,600 ——————————— ————————— $20,000,000 124,340
Square Miles. Original territory 827,844 Annexed first 110 years 2,769,040 Annexed last three years 124,340 ————————— 3,721,224
But the territory acquired in the McKinley administration has been for the purpose of safeguarding that matchless possession secured in all the preceding century, and of insuring to the millions who inhabit this land the certainty that they shall continue in the enjoyment of that prosperity their past labors and the sacrifices of their fathers have placed in their possession.
For example, the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands was a war measure. At the moment of Admiral Dewey’s victory in Manila Bay, the United States became an active power in the Pacific, and every consideration, naval and commercial, made it desirable that the American flag should float over this fertile group. Figuratively speaking, Hawaii was sitting on Uncle Sam’s doorstep waiting to come in. The islands had offered themselves to the United States Government. It was not necessary to wage a war of conquest or open peaceful negotiations. All that was necessary was to pass a resolution of annexation.
Accordingly, on June 15, the Newlands annexation resolution was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 209 to 91. The Senate passed the same resolution by a vote of 42 to 21, and President McKinley approved it July 7, 1898.
The Hawaiian Islands, formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, are situated in the North Pacific Ocean, and lie between longitude 154 degrees 40 minutes and 160 degrees 30 minutes west from Greenwich, and latitude 22 degrees 16 minutes and 18 degrees 55 minutes north. They are thus on the very edge of the tropics, but their position in mid-ocean and the prevalence of the northeast trade winds give them a climate of perpetual summer without enervating heat. The group occupies a central position in the North Pacific, 2,089 nautical miles southwest of San Francisco; 4,640 from Panama; 3,800 from Auckland, New Zealand; 4,950 from Hongkong, and 3,440 from Yokohama. Its location gives it great importance from a military as well as from a commercial point of view.