Polynesian voyagers were the first people to come to Hawaii in the 700s. Then in the 1700s, American traders came to Hawaii to take the islands’ sandalwood and sell it for a lot of money in China. The islands were ruled by a monarchy with kings and queens, but in 1840, a constitutional monarchy was set up and took away most of the king’s authority. A group of Americans who had been sent away from America came in 1893 and gathered support from the sugar planters. Together, they took Queen Liliuokalani from her throne and the Republic of Hawaii was set up a year later as a U.S. territory with a Hawaiian-born president over it. Hawaii became an important base in the next few wars and became a formal U.S. territory that was a great help during World War II in 1941.
In March 1959, the U.S. government agreed to make Hawaii a state, and in June the Hawaiian people voted on becoming a state. The vote won by a huge majority to accept the offer to become a state. So on August 21, 1959, Hawaii officially became the 50th state when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the document that accepted Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state. The president also gave an order for the American flag to have the 50 stars in rows with a pattern: five six-star rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became official the next year on July 4, 1960.
