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Part of a series on the
Hawaiian sovereignty movement
The inverted Hawaiian flag represents the Hawaiian Kingdom in distress and is the main symbol of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
Main issues
Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom Opposition to the overthrow Legal status of Hawaii US federal recognition of Native Hawaiians
Governments
Chiefdom Kingdom Provisional Government Government in Exile Republic Territory State
Historical conflicts
Hawaiian rebellions (1887–1895) Wilcox rebellion of 1889 Leper War on Kauaʻi Black Week (Hawaii) 1895 Wilcox rebellion
Modern events
Hawaiian Renaissance 2008 occupation of Iolani Palace 125th anniversary of the overthrow
Parties and organizations
Aloha ʻĀina Party Home Rule Party of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Documents and ideas
Sovereignty Restoration Day Blount Report Morgan Report Bayonet Constitution Proposed 1893 Constitution Kūʻē Petitions Newlands Resolution Hawaiian Organic Act Apology Resolution Akaka Bill
Books
Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen Kaua Kuloko 1895
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Until the 1890s the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was an independent sovereign state, recognized by the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany with exchange of ambassadors. However, there were threats to the Kingdom's sovereignty during that period.

The Hawaiian monarchy effectively lost power with the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii, but the last Hawaiian monarch was deposed in a coup d'état on January 17, 1893.

The coup d'état that overthrew Queen Lili'uokalani was supported primarily by local American and European residents (excluding the British, who generally supported the monarchy) and other supporters of the Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Most of the leaders of the Committee of Safety, which declared the queen deposed, were Kingdom subjects and included legislators, government officers, and even a Supreme Court Justice of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The coup itself was relatively bloodless, with only one policeman wounded by the annexationists. After some deliberation, at the urging of advisors and friends, the Queen ordered her forces to surrender, "to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life". The Republic of Hawai'i was declared by in 1894 by the same parties behind the Provisional Government, after immediate annexation was prevented by President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Liliuokalani.

The overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the subsequent annexation of Hawaiʻi has recently been cited as the first major instance of American imperialism.

"Bayonet" Constitution of 1887

In 1887, a group of cabinet officials and advisors to King David Kalākaua and an armed militia forced the king to promulgate what was known by its critics as the "Bayonet Constitution". The document created a constitutional monarchy like Great Britain, stripping the King of most of his personal authority, empowering the Legislature, and establishing cabinet government. The 1887 Constitution has become widely known as the "Bayonet Constitution", especially by its opponents, because of the threat of force by an armed militia that was used to gain Kalākaua's cooperation.

The 1887 constitution, drafted by Lorrin A. Thurston, Minister of Interior under King David Kalākaua, was directly in response to several corruption scandals Kalākaua was involved in. The Reform Party, confounded by Kalakaua's previous manipulation of the masses during elections, designed the constitution to give representation generally in proportion to contribution of tax revenue to the government; the new constitution stripped the monarchy of much of its authority, over 75% of the native Hawaiian population could not vote due to sex, age, and significant income and property requirements, and Asians were completely disenfranchised from voting. Only well-to-do male Europeans, Americans and native Hawaiians were given full voting rights.

The 1887 constitution empowered select citizenry to elect members of the House of Nobles (who had previously been appointed by the King). Because the new constitution increased the value of property a citizen must own to be eligible to vote, one result was to deny voting rights to poor native Hawaiians and Europeans who could previously vote. It guaranteed a voting monopoly by native Hawaiian and European elites, by denying voting rights outright to Asians who comprised a large proportion of the population. (A few Japanese and some Chinese who had previously become naturalized as subjects of the Kingdom subsequently lost all voting rights.) Americans and other Europeans in Hawaiʻi were also given full voting rights without the need for Hawaiian citizenship. The Bayonet Constitution continued allowing the monarch to appoint cabinet ministers, but stripped him of the power to dismiss them without approval from the Legislature.

Liliʻuokalani's Constitution

In 1891, Kalākaua died and his sister Liliʻuokalani assumed the throne in the middle of an economic crisis. The McKinley Act had crippled the Hawaiian sugar industry by reducing duties on imports from other countries, eliminating the previous Hawaiian advantage due to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1874. Many Hawaii businesses and citizens were feeling pressure from the loss of revenue. Liliʻuokalani proposed a lottery system to raise money for her government. Also proposed was a controversial opium licensing bill. Her ministers, and even her closest friends, were opposed to this plan and unsuccessfully tried to dissuade her from pursuing these initiatives, both of which came to be used against her in the brewing constitutional crisis that was also underway.

Liliʻuokalani's chief desire was to restore power to the monarch by abrogating the 1887 "Bayonet" Constitution. Her proposed constitution would have both widened suffrage by reducing some wealth requirements, but also would have eliminated the voting privileges of European and American residents, thus disenfranchising many European and American businessmen. The queen launched a nationalist campaign promoting her idea resulting in a petition from some Hawaiian subjects to proclaim a new Constitution. When the Queen informed her cabinet of her plans, they withheld their support due to their clear understanding of the response this was likely to provoke.

Besides the threatened loss of suffrage for European and American citizens of Hawaii, business interests within the Kingdom were concerned about the removal of foreign tariffs in the American sugar trade due to the McKinley Act (which effectively eliminated the favored status of Hawaiian sugar due to the Reciprocity Treaty), and considered the possibility of annexation to the United States (and enjoying the same sugar bounties as domestic producers) as a welcome side effect of ending the monarchy. A small but powerful group, led by Lorrin Thurston, had been set on the goal of annexation to the United States for years before the actual revolution.

The Overthrow

According to historian Ralph S. Kuykendall, "The proximate cause of the Revolution of January 17, 1893, was the attempt by Queen Liliuokalani on the previous Saturday afternoon, January 14, to promulgate a new constitution which she had prepared.". Historian William Russ argues that the underlying motivation was the desire among the conspirators to seek Hawaii's annexation to the United States. Once organized and declared, the policies outlined by the Provisional Government were 1) absolute abolition of the monarchy, 2) establishment of a Provisional Government until annexation to the United States, 3) the declaration of an "Executive Council" of four members, 4) retaining all government officials in their posts except for the Queen, her cabinet and her Marshal, and 5) "laws not inconsistent with the new order of things were to cointinue".. About 1,500 armed local (non-native) people under the leadership of the Committee of Safety, a 13 member council, organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Liliʻuokalani. The next morning, Sunday, Liliuokalani and several other Hawaiians attended Sunday service. During that time, unknown by the church goers the 1,500 militiamen surrounded the church. When the service ended they demanded the handover of the government, Liliuokalani capitulated. They quickly took over government buildings, disarmed the Royal Guard, and declared a Provisional Government.

As these events were unfolding, American citizens living in Honolulu expressed concern for their safety and property. United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, informed about possible threats to non-combatant American lives and property by the Committee of Safety, obliged their request and summoned a company of uniformed U.S. Marines from the U.S.S. Boston and two companies of U.S. sailors to land on the Kingdom and take up positions at the U.S. Legation, Consulate, and Arion Hall on the afternoon of January 16, 1893. 162 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor came ashore well-armed but under strict orders of neutrality. As U.S. troops marched past ʻIolani Palace on their way to their stations, they dipped their U.S. flag, as a sign of respect to the Queen. The sailors and Marines did not enter the Palace grounds or take over any buildings, and never fired a shot. Historian William Russ states, "the injunction to prevent fighting of any kind made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself."

A provisional government was set up with the strong support of the Honolulu Rifles, a militia group which had defended the Kingdom against A counter-revolution in 1889. Under this pressure, to "avoid any collision of armed forces", Liliʻuokalani gave up her throne to the Committee of Safety. The Queen's statement yielding authority, on January 17, 1893, protested the overthrow:

I Liliʻuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.

That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.

Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.

American Response

Newly inaugurated President Cleveland called for an investigation into the overthrow. This investigation was conducted by former Congressman James Henderson Blount. Blount concluded on July 17 1893, "United States diplomatic and military representatives had abused their authority and were responsible for the change in government." Minister Stevens was recalled, and the military commander of forces in Hawaiʻi was forced to resign his commission. President Cleveland stated, "Substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair the monarchy." Cleveland further stated in his 1893 State of the Union Address that, "Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention." The matter was referred by Cleveland to Congress on December 18, 1893 after the Queen refused to accept amnesty for the revolutionaries as a condition of reinstatement. Hawaii President Sanford Dole was presented a demand for reinstatement by Minister Willis, who had not realized Cleveland had already sent the matter to Congress - Dole flatly refused Cleveland's demands to reinstate the Queen.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator John Tyler Morgan, continued investigation into the matter based both on Blount's earlier report, affidavits from Hawaii, and testimony provided to the U.S. Senate in Washington, DC. The Morgan Report contradicted the Blount Report, and found Minister Stevens and the U.S. military troops "not guilty" of involvement in the overthrow. Cleveland ended his earlier efforts to restore the queen, and adopted a position of official U.S. recognition of the Provisional Government and the Republic of Hawaii which followed.

In 1993, the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Congress passed a resolution, which President Clinton signed into law, essentially adopting the conclusions of the Blount Report and offered an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States. This law is widely known as the Apology Resolution.

International Response

During the overthrow, the Japanese Imperial Navy gunboat Naniwa was docked at Pearl Harbor. The gunboat's commander, Heihachiro Togo, who later commanded the Japanese battleship fleet at Tsushima, refused to accede to the Provisional Government's demands that he strike the colors of the Kingdom, but later lowered the colors on order of the Japanese Government. Along with every other international legations in Honolulu, the Japanese Consulate-General, Suburo Fujii, quickly recognized the Provisional Government as the legitimate successor to the monarchy.

Every government with a diplomatic presence in Hawaii recognized the Provisional Government within 48 hours of the overthrow, including the United States, although the recognition by the United States government and its further response is detailed in the section above on "American Response". Countries recognizing the new Provisional Government included Chile, Austro-Hungary, Mexico, Russia, the Netherlands, Imperial Germany, Sweden, Spain, Imperial Japan, Italy, Portugal, Britain, Denmark, Belgium, China, Peru, and France. When the Republic of Hawaii was declared on July 4, 1894, immediate recognition was given by every nation with diplomatic relations with Hawaii, except for Britain, whose response came in November of 1894.

The Provisional Government and Republic of Hawaii

Sanford B. Dole and his committee declared itself the Provisional Government of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi on July 17, 1893, removing only the Queen, her cabinet, and her marshal from office. On July 4, 1894 the Republic of Hawaiʻi was proclaimed. Dole was president of both governments. As a republic, it was the intention of the government to campaign for annexation with the United States of America. The rationale behind annextion included a strong economic component - Hawaiian goods and services exported to the mainland would not be subject to American tariffs, and would benefit from domestic bounties, if Hawaii was part of the United States. This was especially important to the Hawaiian economy after the McKinley Act reduced the effectiveness of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1874 by lowering tariffs on all foreign sugar, and eliminating Hawaii's previous advantage.

Later, after a weapons cache was found on the palace grounds after an attempted rebellion in 1895, Queen Liliʻuokalani was placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, convicted of misprision of treason and then imprisoned in her own home.

The annexation of Hawaii

In 1896, William McKinley succeeded Cleveland as president. Two years later, he signed the Newlands Resolution which provided for the official annexation of Hawaii on July 7, 1898. The Hawaiian Islands officially became Hawaii Territory, a United States territory, on February 22, 1900. Dole was appointed to be the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii. Hawaii was granted autonomous rule by 1900, with Sanford B. Dole as the first governor. Iolani Palace served as the capitol of the Hawaiian government until 1969.

References

1. Spencer, Thomas P. (1895). Kaua Kuloko 1895. Honolulu: Papapai Mahu Press Publishing Company. OCLC 19662315.
2. Andrade, Jr., Ernest (1996). Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880-1903. University Press of Colorado. pp. p. 130. ISBN 0870814176. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
3. Kinzer, Stephen (2006). Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq. Times Books. ISBN 0805078614. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
4. Daws, Gavan (1974). Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands. University of Hawaii Press. pp. p. 240. ISBN 0824803248. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)It was clear to his opponents that he (Gibson) and Kalakaua had run roughshod over the constitution: they had subverted the legislature, purged the civil service of all but sycophants, and they were planning to pack the supreme court; and to top it all off they were on their way to bankrupting the kingdom.
5. Daws, Shoal of Time, p242: he (Thurston) saw delinquency, political and moral, all around him during Kalakaua's reign - the stuffing of ballot boxes and the selling of offices, the drinking of too much gin, the dancing of the hula, the smuggling and smoking of opium.
6. Daws, Shoal of Time, p251: "Advocates of universal suffrage may put forward what specious arguments of human equality they please," said the Hawaiian Gazette, "but it stands to reason the necessity of government lies as much in property rights as in anything else.
7. Daws, Shoal of Time, p271: The Queen's new cabinet had been in office less than a week, and whatever they thought about the need for a new constitution...they knew enough about the temper of the queen's opponents to realize that they would welcome the chance to challenge her, and no minister of the crown could look forward...to that confrontation.
8. U.S. Navy History site
9. Kuykendall, Ralph (1967). The Hawaiian Kingdom, Volume 3. University of Hawaii Press. p. 582. ISBN 0870224336.
10. Russ, William Adam (1992). The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-94). Associated University Presses. p. 90. ISBN 0945636539.
11. Russ, William Adam (1992). The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-94). Associated University Presses. p. 90. ISBN 0945636539.
12. The Morgan Report, p808-809, "At the request of many citizens, whose wives and families were helpless and in terror of an expected uprising of the mob, which would burn and destroy, a request was made and signed by all of the committee, addressed to Minister Stevens, that troops might be landed to protect houses and private property.
13. The Morgan Report, p881, "Under the diplomatic and naval rules, which were and are imperative, the U. S. minister and naval commander would have shamefully ignored their duty had they not landed the men of the Boston for the security of American life and property and the maintenance of public order, even had the committee of public safety not requested us to do."
14. The Morgan Report, p367, "In landing the troops from the Boston there was no demonstration of actual hostilities, and their conduct was as quiet and as respectful as it had been on many previous occasions when they were landed for the purpose of drill and practice. In passing the palace on their way to the point at which they were halted, the Queen appeared upon the balcony and the troops respectfully saluted her by presenting arms and dipping the flag, and made no demonstration of any hostile intent."
15. Russ, William Adam (1992). The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-94). Associated University Presses. p. 350. ISBN 0945636431.
16. The Blount Report, p1342, "In reply to the direct question from Mr. Parker as to whether this was the final decision of the Senate, I said that in my opinion it was final."
17. Grover Cleveland's 2nd Annual Message, December 3, 1894 - "Since communicating the voluminous correspondence in regard to Hawaii and the action taken by the Senate and House of Representatives on certain questions submitted to the judgment and wider discretion of Congress the organization of a government in place of the provisional arrangement which followed the deposition of the Queen has been announced, with evidence of its effective operation. The recognition usual in such cases has been accorded the new Government."
18. The Morgan Report, p1106-1107, "The receipt of your communication, dated the 17th instant, inclosing a copy of proclamation issued on the same day, informing me that for reasons set forth in said proclamation the Hawaiian monarchy has been abrogated and a Provisional Government established, which is now in possession of the Government departmental buildings, the archives, and the treasury, and requesting me on behalf of H. I. J. M.'s Government to recognize said Provisional Government as the de facto Government of the Hawaiian Islands, pending the receipt of instructions from H. I. J. M.'s Government, to whom advices of your action and of the position which I have taken in relation thereto have been despatched."
19. The Morgan Report, p 1103-1111
20. Andrade, Ernest (1996). The Unconquerable Rebel. The University Press of Colorado. p. 147. ISBN 0870814176. The provisional government, whatever its faults, had had little difficulty in obtaining recognition, even from Cleveland, and it was not considered likely that the republic would have any foreign problems. Recognition came even more quickly than it had in 1893, for at least there was no question of a revolution's having taken place or of the government's control of the domestic situation.

Part of a series on the
History of Hawaii
Early history (pre-1795) Discovery and settlement c. 1219–1266 Battle of Kealakekua Bay 1779
Hawaiian Kingdom (1795–1893) Kamehameha dynasty 1795–1874 Unification of Hawaii 1810 Laplace affair 1839 Paulet affair 1943 French invasion of Honolulu 1849 American Civil War 1861–1865 Kalākaua dynasty 1874–1893 Reciprocity Treaty 1875 Bayonet Constitution 1887 Rebellions and revolutions 1887–1895 Overthrow 1893
Provisional (1893–1894) Leper War on Kauaʻi 1893 Black Week 1893–1894
Republic of Hawaii (1894–1898) Counter-Revolution 1895 Annexation 1898
Territory of Hawaii (1898–1959) Hawaiian Organic Act 1900 Oahu sugar strike 1920 Hanapēpē Massacre 1924 Massie Trial 1932 World War II 1939–1945 Attack on Pearl Harbor 1941 Niihau incident 1941 Honouliuli Internment Camp 1943–1946 Democratic Revolution 1954
State of Hawaii (1959–present) Hawaii Admission Act 1959 Kalama Valley protests 1971 State Constitutional Convention 1978 Xerox murders 1999 Occupation of Iolani Palace 2008 Honolulu molasses spill 2013 TMT protests 2014–now False missile alert 2018 Hurricane Lane 2018 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–present George Floyd protests 2020 Red Hill water crisis 2021–now Hawaii wildfires 2023
Topics
Big Five Legal status LGBT history NRHP listings Sovereignty movement Sugar plantations Timeline of Honolulu
Portal Commons
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• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from December 2007
• Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
• History of Hawaii
• Hawaiian Revolution of 1893