(A) ** they acted as refueling stations for ships
(B) they had once belonged to the United States
(C) to rid the Americas of European powers
(D) so that those countries did not imperialize the US
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -Ultimately, annexation was achieved due to the perceived threat of the Japanese invasion. Waves of Japanese came to the islands in increasing numbers to work in the sugar trade. U.S. military leaders feared potential Japanese occupation of the islands and created a strategic naval base in the center of the Pacific.
Concept note-2: -America’s annexation of Hawaii in 1898 extended U.S. territory into the Pacific and highlighted resulted from economic integration and the rise of the United States as a Pacific power. For most of the 1800s, leaders in Washington were concerned that Hawaii might become part of a European nation’s empire.
Concept note-3: -In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.