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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, and the Republic of Hawai'i was declared in 1894 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 in response to what was seen by his critics as Kalākaua's abuse of power; the new constitution stripped the monarchy of much of its authority, over 75% of the native Hawaiian population lost their right to vote through significant income and property requirements, and Asians were completely disenfranchised from voting. Only well-to-do 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. She came into power 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 Hawaiian citizens were feeling the pressures of the loss of revenue. Liliʻuokalani proposed a lottery system to raise money for her government. Her ministers, and even her closest friends, were sorely disappointed at the thought and tried to stop her from pursuing the bill. The lottery bill came to be used against her in the brewing constitutional crisis she was heading into.

Liliʻuokalani's chief desire was to restore power to the monarch by abrogating the 1887 Constitution. The queen launched a campaign resulting in a petition from some Hawaiian subjects to proclaim a new Constitution. When she informed her cabinet of her plans, they refused to support her.

Besides the threatened loss of suffrage for European and Amerian 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.

The Overthrow

In response to Liliʻuokalani's attempt to promulgate a new constitution, a group of European and American Hawaiian citizens and residents in Hawaiʻi formed a "Committee of Safety" on January 14, 1893 to prevent the queen from abrogating the 1887 constitution. About 1,500 armed local people under the leadership of the Committee of Safety, a 13 member council, organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Liliʻuokalani. They quickly took over government buildings, disarmed the Royal Guard, and declared a Provisional Government. United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, worried about possible threats to non-combatant American lives and property, 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.

As these events were unfolding, American citizens living in Honolulu expressed concern for their safety and property. About 150 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor came ashore with rifles and gatling guns to maintain order in the streets and to guard American property. As United States Marines marched past ʻIolani Palace on their way to their peacekeeping stations, they dipped their U.S. flag while passing by, 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.

A provisional government was set up with the strong support of the Honolulu Rifles, a militia group which had defended the Kingdom against rebellion in 1889. Under this pressure, Liliʻuokalani gave up her throne to the Committee of Safety. The Queen's statement yielding authority, on January 17, 1893, also pleaded for justice:

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.

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.

A hasty investigation established by President Cleveland was conducted by former Congressman James Henderson Blount, and 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 Sanford Dole refused Cleveland's demands to reinstate the Queen. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Chairman Morgan, continued investigation into the matter. The Morgan Report completely exonerated the U.S. from any involvement in the overthrow. After the findings of this committee were submitted, Cleveland reversed his position, and accepted the Provisional Government as legitimate, and rebuffed further requests from the queen to interfere in the matter.

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 Republic of Hawaiʻi was established July 4, 1894 under the presidency of Sanford Dole.

The annexation of Hawai'i

In 1896, William McKinley succeeded Cleveland as president. Two years later, he signed the Newlands Resolution which provided for the official annexation of Hawaiʻi on July 7, 1898. The Hawaiian Islands officially became Hawaiʻi Territory, a United States territory, on February 22, 1900. Dole was appointed to be the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii. Hawai'i 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.

Hawaii as a U.S. state

Hawaii became the 50th American state in 1959. It has four electoral votes today, and citizens can vote in national elections. Hawaii currently has two senators and two congressmen.

References

1. Ernest Andrade, Jr. "Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880-1903". p. 130. ISBN 0870814176.
2. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer, 2006
3. U.S. Navy History site

See also

• Provisional Government of Hawaii
• Morgan Report
• Blount Report
• Republic of Hawaii

• Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
• History of Hawaii