Hawaii Admission Day

Admission Day or Statehood Day is a legal holiday in the state of Hawai`i in the United States. It is celebrated annually on the third Friday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 admission of Hawai'i into the Union.

Statehood bills for Hawai'i were introduced into the U.S. Congress as early as 1919 by the non-voting delegates Hawai'i sent to the U.S. Congress. Additional bills were introduced in 1935, 1947 and 1950. In 1959, the U.S. Congress approved the statehood bill. This was followed by a referendum in which Hawai'i residents voted overwhelmingly in support of statehood (the ballot question was: "Shall Hawaii immediately be admitted into the Union as a state?"), and on August 21 1959 (the third Friday in August), President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation making Hawai'i the 50th state.

External links

* [http://home.hawaii.rr.com/hawaiianweb/holiday09.html This Land of Aloha Holidays and Festivals]
* [http://www.hawaii.gov/hrd/State_Observed_Holidays/document_view Holidays to be Observed by the HAWAII STATE GOVERNMENT]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/statehoodreso2003sr144.html Wording of a Hawaii Senate resolution] to organize a celebration for Admission Day 2003. Includes many details of the history of the admission of Hawai'i into the Union.