When the Organic Act of 1900 established Hawaii as a United States territory, the new law made an immediate and powerful impact on Hawaiian commerce. Plantation owners could no longer import contract laborers to work their fields, and all previous labor contracts were nullified and had to be completely renegotiated. During the first six months after the Organic Act was passed, there were no fewer than 26 strikes and work stoppages, some of which involved immigrant workers of Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese descent. The primary focus on the passage is on the