This book traces the development of American private interests in the Pacific before the 1840s—trading, whaling, sealing, missionary work, etc.—and the gradual evolution of U.S. governmental interests in the region beginning with the 1840s. While governmental policies in the Pacific at first complemented the private interests in the region, public policy had by the late decades of the 19th century begun to develop in directions that had little relation to specific or genuine private interests in the Pacific. The result was that by 1899 a serious gap had been created between the policies and actions of the United States government and private American interests in the Pacific—a gap that would create problems for American policy in the 20th century.