With the growth pressure imposed by the Reciprocity Treaty, however, plantations required capital infusions in order to expand their cultivation into more marginal lands, leading to increased reliance on the agencies for credit.
However, some of the children of Big Five partners were involved in the Committee of Safety, which organized the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and lobbied for annexation.
By eliminating tariffs imposed on sugarcane producers by the United States, planters had more money to spend on equipment, land and labor.
[6] The Big Five were involved in other businesses outside of plantations through direct ownership or by acting as directors, most notably shipping companies, utilities, railroads, and banks.
However, by the 1920s, due to World War I, a majority of the sugar assets were controlled by Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer & Co., and Alexander & Baldwin.
[7] Political power over the islands was exerted by controlling most sugar and pineapple plantations, utilities, transportation and construction companies, insurance firms, and banks.
It was during the labor-organizing period that the term “Big Five” likely grew in usage amongst people critiquing the social workings of Hawaii.
"[2] During the Democratic Revolution of 1954, the unions inflicted a decisive blow against the giants, and when the sugar industry declined after Hawaii became a state in 1959, so did each of the Big Five companies.