Though many Americans think of a vacation in a tropical paradise when imagining Hawaii, how the 50th state came to be a part of the U.S. is actually a much darker story, generations in the making.

His kingdom saw tons of growth as a result. According to "The Hawaiian Kingdom, Vol. 3," by Ralph S. Kuykendall, the year Kalakaua ascended the throne, the island nation exported $1.84 million in ...