Since 1895, when the Hawaiian army had overthrown Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii had been in a permanent quagmire of feuding politicians and military officers, but was slowly recovering. France announced it recognized the newly-elected Hawaiian Congress in 1899, but the Republican Union would have none of it.
Colonialism and Imperialism was strictly forbidden by the R.U. Constitution, but annexation and the formation of "military territories and occupation zones" was allowed if it meant "the securing of the nation's borders and destiny." Thus, Custer said his newly-declared war on Hawaii was deemed to be doing both.
In early 1900, the Union shipped 9,000 soldiers and "MDP Zealots" (actually private soldiers serving only Custer) through the Panama Canal, as well as an "aerofleet" comprised of eight heavy assault airships and a squadron of small, 10-man scout "blimps." They wasted no time terrifying Hawaii into submission.
On April 10th, the heavy assault airship
Gustavus Adolphus commenced bombardment on Honolulu while marines established a beachhead and built Coffee Grinder nests. Over 400 Hawaiian soldiers and militias were ruthlessly mowed down and several dozen islanders were killed as "collateral damage." The marines pummeled the remaining fragments of the meager Hawaiian army and seized control of the 'lolani Palace, lined up the Congress against the back wall, and then opened fire with a Coffee Grinder, exactly as had been done in Mexico. The former queen and her family were tracked down and brutally murdered by ORRA men armed with swords.
American troops in Hawaii
ORRA had wasted no time in setting up "offices," and they then started rounding up Catholics (a fairly large amount were in Hawaii due to French influence). While not listed on official records, most of the Catholics were taken out in the jungle and shot, and their bodies dumped in a ravine later known by islanders as "Murder Ridge." Evangelists were sent in to convert the pagan islanders, which worked quite well. By 1902, a majority of "yellow" Hawaiians identified as members of the American Fundamentalist Christian Church. A massive church was built in Honolulu, and the old Catholic buildings were blown to rubble. Charles Goodyear II came and personally oversaw the occupational process, until Hawaii made the jump to from "Occupational Zone" to "Union Territory" in 1908 (the same year that the Central American regions did the same).
The Union celebrated the defeat of the "yellow pagan Inferior monarchy" by setting off fireworks and waving flags, and above all sending "fan-mail" to Custer. The Consul was thrilled with the latest events, and immediately shipped more men to the Pacific to "pacify" it. He declared all the little islands and kingdoms and atolls would be conquered by the Republican Union as part of its "manifest destiny to secure its future." Over the next few years, the Union Navy took one island group after another. One of the most important was Polynesia and, which had already been claimed by Peru. Secretary of War Warren G. Harding told Peru to "back the Hell down or we'll send you to Hell, by golly." Peru backed down. After that tense stand-off, the Union went on to take all of the South Pacific. Finally, the Dutch government told the Union any further western expansion in the Pacific would mean hostilities with the Dutch and their allies. Thus, the nations created the "Wall of Micronesia," which marked the border between their Pacific empires.
To finalize their authority, the Union conducted huge purges of their new islands, eliminating Catholicism altogether and furthering the AFC faith. In 1908, the same year Hawaii and the Central American regions became Territories, all the non-Hawaiian Pacific islands were declared part of the "Greater American-Pacific Co-Prosperity Sphere" in an attempt to make sure they were not seen as "colonies," which they were.