Download After a century of American rule, many native Hawaiians remain

From Sovereignty to State
(The following is an amalgam of a variety of secondary sources as noted by the links at the end of the
article)
After a century of American rule, many native Hawaiians remain bitter about how the United States
acquired the islands, located 2,500 miles from the West Coast.
In 1893, a small group of sugar and pineapple-growing businessmen, aided by the American minister to
Hawaii and backed by heavily armed U.S. soldiers and marines, deposed Hawaii's queen. Subsequently,
they imprisoned the queen and seized 1.75 million acres of crown land and conspired to annex the islands
to the United States.
On January 17, 1893, the conspirators announced the overthrow of the queen's government. To avoid
bloodshed, Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani yielded her sovereignty and called upon the U.S.
government "to undo the actions of its representatives." The U.S. government refused to help her regain
her throne. When she died in 1917, Hawaii was an American territory. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th
state after a plebiscite in which 90 percent of the islanders supported statehood.
The businessmen who conspired to overthrow the queen claimed that they were overthrowing a corrupt,
dissolute regime in order of advance democratic principles. They also argued that a Western power was
likely to acquire the islands. Hawaii had the finest harbor in the mid-Pacific and was viewed as a
strategically valuable coaling station and naval base. In 1851, King Kamehameha III had secretly asked
the United States to annex Hawaii, but Secretary of State Daniel Webster declined, saying "No power
ought to take possession of the islands as a conquest...or colonization." But later monarchs wanted to
maintain Hawaii's independence. The native population proved to be vulnerable to western diseases,
including cholera, smallpox, and leprosy. By 1891, native Hawaii's were an ethnic minority on the islands.
On January 16, 1893, four boatloads of United States Marines armed with Gatling guns and hundreds of
rounds of ammunition came ashore in Honolulu, capital of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii. As the
Royal Hawaiian band played a concert at the Hawaiian Hotel, 162 troops marched through the streets of
Honolulu, heading for the palace. The Queen of Hawaii, Lili'uokalani, looked down from her balcony as the
troops took up their positions.
The following day, she surrendered at gunpoint, yielding her throne to the government of the United
States. A provisional government led by wealthy white sugar growers assumed control of Hawaii and
petitioned the US for annexation.
Born in 1838, Lili'uokalani was trained by missionaries in Western academic disciplines and the ways of
polite American society. She was well-travelled and even attended Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in
1887. Yet she never forgot her native language, was fiercely proud of Hawaiian traditions and was always
loyal to her people. A talented composer, Lili'uokalani wrote more than 165 songs, including "Aloha Oe,"
probably the most widely recognized Hawaiian song.
In 1881 her brother, King Kalakaua, went on an extended journey around the world, leaving the 43-yearold Princess in charge. Although she had no experience governing, she soon had the chance to display her
mettle when an epidemic of smallpox erupted, killing many Hawaiians. The source of the disease was
Chinese laborers, brought by ship to work in Hawaii's sugar cane fields, the island's economic mainstay.
To protect the Hawaiians, Lili'uokalani immediately closed the port, an act that infuriated the wealthy
sugar growers.
"The outpouring of protest by the business community was tremendous," says historical researcher Glen
Grant. "But she stood her ground. I think she clearly demonstrated that the welfare of her people was far
more important than the profits for the business community."
King Kalakaua had negotiated a special relationship with the U.S., which let Hawaiian sugar into the
country tariff-free. When the trade agreement came up for renewal in 1886, the U.S. government
demanded a concession to use Pearl Harbor as a naval refueling station. Kalakaua refused, seeing this as
major blow to Hawaiian sovereignty.
Fearing the loss of their livelihood, a group of plantation owners and businessmen, led by Lorrin Thurston,
organized secret society called the Hawaiian League. While some members advocated overthrowing the
king, they decided to allow him to remain if he agreed to a new constitution they would draft. Many
League members also were part of a volunteer militia, the Honolulu Rifles, and in 1887, under the threat
of military force, Kalakaua was compelled to sign the document, which became known as the Bayonet
Constitution.
Under the new constitution, the king became essentially a figurehead. Power rested in the Cabinet, which
was controlled by the Legislature. Kalakaua soon had to sign the Pearl Harbor concession.
Native Hawaiian voting power was greatly reduced as well. Suffrage was extended to non-citizens of
American or European descent, and higher income and property restrictions were placed upon voters and
candidates for the upper house of the Legislature.
Over the next decade, efforts to amend or replace the constitution received widespread support among
different factions with differing goals. Kalakaua’s died in 1891 and his sister Lili`uokalani was crowned
queen under the Bayonet Constitution, Lili'uokalani worked secretly then to frame a new constitution that
would restore power to native Hawaiians. But two months into her reign, the US government effectively
revoked Hawaii's favored position on the American sugar market and Lili'uokalani's kingdom was on the
brink of economic collapse. The sugar growers were convinced there was only one way to surviveannexation to the United Sates.
The clash of interests that ensued drew plantation owners, native Hawaiians, the US government, and the
Queen's cabinet into the fray. A coup d’état in 1893 led to Lili'uokalani's abdication and the establishment
of a Provisional Government led by the planters, and her arrest in 1895 as a result of an attempt to
restore her to power. Eventually, Lili'uokalani would lose her throne and the Hawaiian people would lose
their kingdom..
After the bloodless 1893 revolution, coup d’etat, the American businessmen lobbied President Benjamin
Harrison and Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands. In his last month in office, Harrison sent an
annexation treaty to the Senate for confirmation, but the new president, Grover Cleveland, withdrew the
treaty "for the purpose of re-examination." He also received Queen Liliuokalani and replaced the American
stars and stripes in Honolulu with the Hawaiian flag.
Cleveland also ordered a study of the Hawaiian revolution. The inquiry concluded that the American
minister to Hawaii had conspired with the businessmen to overthrow the queen, and that the coup would
have failed "but for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts respecting the dangers to
life and property." Looking back on the Hawaii takeover, President Cleveland later wrote that "the
provisional government owes its existence to an armed invasion by the United States. By an act of war...a
substantial wrong has been done."
President Cleveland's recommendation that the monarchy be restored was rejected by Congress. The
House of Representatives voted to censure the U.S. minister to Hawaii and adopted a resolution opposing
annexation. But Congress did not act to restore the monarchy. In 1894, Sanford Dole, who was beginning
his pineapple business, declared himself president of the Republic of Hawaii without a popular vote. The
new government found the queen guilty of treason and sentenced her to five years of hard labor and a
$5,000 fine. While the sentence of hard labor was not carried out, the queen was placed under house
arrest.
The Republican Party platform in the presidential election of 1896 called for the annexation of Hawaii.
Petitions for a popular vote in Hawaii were ignored. Fearing that he lacked two-thirds support for
annexation in the Senate, the new Republican president, William McKinley, called for a joint resolution of
Congress (the same way that the United States had acquired Texas). Hawaii was recognized as part of the
United States in 1898 by President William McKinley With the country aroused by the Spanish American
War and political leaders fearful that the islands might be annexed by Japan, the joint resolution easily
passed Congress. Hawaii officially became a U.S. territory in 1900.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3159
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hawaii/program.html