Why did some U.S. business leaders want the US to annex hawaii?
At some point, it was inevitable that Hawaii was going to succumb to imperialism by one of the world powers at that time. In fact, all the major powers (Britain, France, Germany, Spain, US) were carving up the Pacific long before Hawaii was annexed in 1898. US business leaders wanted annexation because it meant that they could continue business as usual. The majority of the foreign population in the islands was American-born anyway, and English had already taken hold as the language of commerce in Honolulu and the ports on the other islands.
