The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy occurred in January 1893. Until the 1890s the Kingdom of Hawaii was an independent sovereign state, recognized by the United States, the United Kingdom, 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.^[1]

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 in 1894 by the same parties behind the Provisional Government, after immediate annexation was prevented by President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Liliuokalani.

"Bayonet" Constitution of 1887

King David Kal?kaua

In 1887, a group of cabinet officials and advisors to King David Kal?kaua 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 the United Kingdom, stripping the King of most of his personal authority, empowering the mostly-Caucasian 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 Kal?kaua's cooperation.

The 1887 constitution, drafted by Lorrin A. Thurston, Minister of Interior under King David Kal?kaua, was directly in response to several corruption scandals Kal?kaua was allegedly involved in.^[2] The Reform Party, confounded by Kalakaua's previous manipulation of the masses during elections,^[3] 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.^[4] 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 Hawaii 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.

Liliuokalani's Constitution

In 1891, Kal?kaua died and his sister Liliuokalani 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. Liliuokalani 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.

Liliuokalani's chief desire was to restore power to the monarch by abrogating the 1887 "Bayonet" Constitution and promugating a new one, an idea that seems to have been broadly supported by the Hawaian population.^[5] 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 resident European and American businessmen. The queen toured several of the islands on horseback, talking to the people about her ideas and receiving overwhelming support, including a lengthy petition in support of 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.^[6]

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

Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph of the ship's landing force on duty at the Arlington Hotel, Honolulu, at the time of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, January 1893. Lieutenant Lucien Young, USN, commanded the detachment, and is presumably the officer at right.^[7]

The precipitating event^[8] leading to the Revolution of January 17, 1893 was the attempt by Queen Liliuokalani to promulgate a new constitution which would have strengthened the power of the monarch relative to the legislature in which Euro-American business elites held disproportionate power. The conspirators' stated goals were to depose the queen, overthrow the monarchy, and seek Hawaii's annexation to the United States.^[9][10] 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 Liliuokalani. They took over government buildings, disarmed the Royal Guard, and declared a Provisional Government.

As these events were unfolding, the Committee of Safety expressed concern for the safety and property of American residents in Honolulu.^[11] United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, advised about these supposed threats to non-combatant American lives and property^[12] 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 orders of neutrality. The sailors and Marines did not enter the Palace grounds or take over any buildings, and never fired a shot, but their presence served effectively in intimidating royalist defenders. Historian William Russ states, "the injunction to prevent fighting of any kind made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself."^[13]

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", Liliuokalani gave up her throne to the Committee of Safety. 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".^[10].

The Queen's statement yielding authority, on January 17, 1893, protested the overthrow:

I Liliuokalani, 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 Hawaii 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.^[14][15]

The Native Hawaiian Study Commission of the United States Congress in its 1983 final report found no historical, legal, or moral obligation for the U.S. government to provide reparations, assistance, or group rights to Native Hawaiians.^[16]

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

International response

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^[17], Italy, Portugal, Britain, Denmark, Belgium, China, Peru, and France.^[18] 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.^[19]

The Provisional Government and Republic of Hawaii

Sanford B. Dole and his committee declared itself the Provisional Government of the Kingdom of Hawaii on July 17, 1893, removing only the Queen, her cabinet, and her marshal from office. On July 4, 1894 the Republic of Hawaii 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 Liliuokalani was placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal of the Republic of Hawaii, convicted of misprision of treason and then imprisoned in her own home.

Several pro-royalist groups submitted petitions against annexation in 1898. In 1900 those groups disbanded and formed the Hawaiian Independent Party, under the leadership of Robert Wilcox, the first Congressional Representative from the Territory of Hawaii

The annexation of Hawaii

Annexation of Hawaii

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. ↑
2. ↑ 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.
3. ↑ 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.
4. ↑ 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.
5. ↑ Russ, The Hawaiian Revolution, p. 67: She...defended her act[ions] by showing that, out of a possible 9,500 native voters in 1892, 6,500 asked for a new Constitution.
6. ↑ 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.
7. ↑ U.S. Navy History site
8. ↑
9. ↑ From Kuykendall, p. 587-588: "W.D. Alexander (History of Later Years of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Revolution of 1893, p. 37) gives the following as the wording of Thurston's motion [to launch the coup]: 'That preliminary steps be taken at once to form and declare a Provisional Government with a view to annexation to the United States.' Thurston (Memoirs, p. 250) says that his motion was 'substantially as follows: "I move that it is the sense of this meeting that the solution of the present situation is annexation to the United States."' Lt. Lucien Young (The Boston at Hawaii, p. 175) gives the following version of the motion: 'Resolved, That it is the sense of this committee that in view of the present unsatisfactory state of affairs, the proper course to pursue is to abolish the monarchy and apply for annexation to the United States.'"
10. ↑ ^{a b}
11. ↑ 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.
12. ↑ Kinzer, S. (2006) America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. p. 30. [Minister Stevens] "certainly overstepped his authority when he brought troops ashore, especially since he knew that the 'general alarm and terror' of which the Committee of Safety had complained was a fiction."
13. ↑
14. ↑ 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."
15. ↑ 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."
16. ↑ Native Hawaiian Study Commission: See Conclusions and Recommendations p.27 and also Existing Law, Native Hawaiians, and Compensation, pgs 333-339 and pgs 341-345
17. ↑ 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.
18. ↑ The Morgan Report, p 1103-1111
19. ↑ 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.
20. ↑ Hawaii
21. ↑ http://www.hawaii-nation.org/hawaiis-own1.html