The Overthrow of the Monarchy

Winds of profound change swept over Hawai`i in the 1890s, turbulent times that altered the
islands' future forever
By Pat Pitzer - ''Spirit of Aloha,'' May 1994 (excerpted and edited for classroom use)
Hawai`i entered the decade of the 1890s as a kingdom and emerged from it as a Territory of the
United States, with a provisional government and a republic in between. It was a time of
monarchs and "mission boys," of royalists, republicans and revolutionaries.
The storm that had been gathering broke on Jan. 17, 1893, when the Hawaiian monarchy
ended in a day of bloodless revolution. Armed rebellion by a relatively small group of men, most
of them American by birth or heritage, succeeded in taking control of the Islands with the
backing of American troops sent ashore from a warship in Honolulu Harbor. To this "superior
force of the United States of America," Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her throne, under
protest, in order to avoid bloodshed, trusting that the United States government would right the
wrong that had been done to her and the Hawaiian people.
Sugar was by far the principal support of the Islands, and profits and prosperity hinged on
favorable treaties with the United States, Hawaiian sugar's chief market, creating powerful
economic ties. As the Islands' sugar industry grew, large numbers of contract laborers were
imported first from China, then from Japan and other countries, to work on the plantations -- the
beginning of Hawai`i's present multicultural population. Plantation ownership and control of the
business community were in the hands of men of American or European blood.
In 1887, during the reign of Lili`uokalani' s brother, King Kalakaua, a group of planters and
businessmen, seeking to control the kingdom politically as well as economically, formed a secret
organization, the Hawaiian League. Membership (probably never over 400, compared to the
40,000 Native Hawaiians in the kingdom) was predominantly American, including several
missionary descendants. Organizer of the league was Lorrin A. Thurston, a lawyer and
missionary grandson, who would later be a leader in the overthrow of the monarchy, with many
of the same men.
Their goal, for now, was to "reform" the monarchy. But reform, like beauty, was in the eye of the
beholder. The Native Hawaiians looked up to their sovereigns with respect and aloha. Kalakaua
and Lili`uokalani were well-educated, intelligent, skilled in social graces, and equally at home
with Hawaiian traditions and court ceremony. Above all, they were deeply concerned about the
well-being of the Hawaiian people and maintaining the independence of the kingdom.
The league's more radical members favored the king's resignation -- one even proposed
assassination -- but cooler heads prevailed. They would allow the king to remain on the throne
with his power sharply limited by a new constitution of their making. Dethroning him would be a
last resort, if he refused to comply. Many Hawaiian League members belonged to a volunter
militia, the Honolulu Rifles, which was officially in service to the Hawaiian government, but
was secretly the league's military arm.

Kalakaua was forced to accept a new Cabinet composed of league members, who presented their
constitution to him for his signature at `Iolani Palace. The reluctant king argued and protested,
but finally signed the document, which became known as the Bayonet Constitution.
The Bayonet Constitution greatly curtailed the king's power, making him a mere
figurehead. It placed the actual executive power in the hands of the Cabinet, whose members
could no longer be dismissed by the king, only by the Legislature.
The privilege of voting was no longer limited to citizens of the kingdom, but was extended to
foreign residents -- provided they were American or European. Asians were excluded -- even
those who had become naturalized citizens. The House of Nobles, formerly appointed by the
king, would now be elected, and voters and candidates for it had to meet a high property
ownership or income requirement -- which excluded two-thirds of the Native Hawaiian voters.
While they could still vote for the House of Representatives, to do so they had to swear to uphold
the despised Bayonet Constitution.
For the remaining years of the monarchy, efforts to amend or replace the constitution received
widespread support. The constitutional controversy proved to be the spark that ignited the
overthrow of the monarchy.
In 1889 a young part-Hawaiian named Robert W. Wilcox staged an uprising to overthrow the
Bayonet Constitution. He led some 80 men, Hawaiians and Europeans, with arms purchased by
the Chinese, in a predawn march to `Iolani Palace with a new constitution for Kalakaua to sign.
The king was away from the palace, and the Cabinet called out troops who forcibly put down the
insurrection. Tried for conspiracy, Wilcox was found not guilty by a jury of Native Hawaiians,
who considered him a folk hero.
On Jan. 20, 1891, King Kalakaua died of kidney disease at age 54. His sister, Liliuokalani
assumed the throne, and was seen as a threat to foreign influence in the islands.
She would soon face a threat to the monarchy and the independence of the kingdom. In early
1892 Lorrin Thurston and a group of like-minded men, mostly of American blood, formed an
Annexation Club, plotting the overthrow of the queen and annexation to the United States.
They kept the organization small and secret - wisely, since they were talking treason.
Thurston went to Washington to promote annexation, and received an encouraging message from
President Benjamin Harrison: "You will find an exceedingly sympathetic administration here."
In Honolulu, Hawaiians spoke out strongly for their monarchy and presented numerous petitions
to the Legislature to replace the Bayonet Constitution, to no avail.
The queen had also been swamped with petitions for a new constitution, signed by an estimated
two-thirds of the kingdom's voters, and she boldly prepared to act on their wishes.

On Jan. 14, the first of four crucial days in Hawai`i's history, the queen was about to proclaim a
new constitution which she had written, restoring power to the throne and rights to the Native
Hawaiian people.
The Royal Hawaiian Band played as the queen's invited guests, including diplomats, legislators
and Hawaiian petitioners, assembled in the throne room, and a large crowd of Native Hawaiians
gathered on the palace lawn.
As the audience waited, the queen argued heatedly with her Cabinet, who refused to sign her new
constitution, fearing her enemies would use it as a pretext to challenge her. They finally
persuaded her to defer action on it.
The queen addressed the guests in the throne room, and the crowd on the palace grounds, telling
them that she was ready to promulgate a new constitution, but yielding to the advice of her
ministers, was postponing it to some future day.
Alerted earlier of the queen's intention by two of her Cabinet members, the Annexation Club
sprang into action. A 13-member Committee of Safety was chosen to plan the overthrow of
the queen and the establishment of a provisional government. As they plotted revolution, they
claimed that the queen, by proposing to alter the constitution, had committed ''a revolutionary
act."
The American warship USS Boston was in port at Honolulu Harbor. With an eye toward landing
troops, Lorrin Thurston and two others called upon the American minister in Hawai`i, John L.
Stevens, an admitted annexationist. Stevens assured them he would not protect the queen, and
that he would land troops from the Boston if necessary "to protect American lives and property."
On Jan. 16, several hundred Native Hawaiians and other royalists gathered peaceably at Palace
Square in support of the queen, expressing loyalty to the monarchy, and carefully avoiding
saying anything inflammatory.
The Committee of Safety delivered a letter to Minister Stevens requesting him to land troops
from the Boston, stating that "the public safety is menaced and life and property are in peril."
The Committee of Safety had initially proposed that Thurston head the government, but he said
he was considered such a "radical mover" it would be better to choose someone more
conservative. They then offered the presidency to Sanford B. Dole, another of the "mission
boys," as Thurston called them. Dole had declined to take part in the revolution except for
drafting documents. Rather than abolishing the monarchy, he favored replacing the queen with a
regency holding the throne in trust until Princess Ka'iulani came of age. Still, he accepted
the presidency and submitted his resignation as a justice in Hawai`i's Supreme Court.
On Jan. 17, 1893, at dusk, Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her throne under protest.

The queen surrendered Hawai`i's sovereignty not to the revolutionaries but to the "superior force
of the United States of America" -- temporarily, she believed -- confident that the American
government would restore her to the throne.
Having stated her case in writing, Lili`uokalani retired to her private residence, Washington
Place, urging the leaders of her people to avoid riot and to await tranquilly the result of her
appeal to the United States government.
The provisional government took over the palace and declared martial law. Later, at its request,
Minister Stevens proclaimed Hawai`i a temporary protectorate and raised the American flag over
government buildings.
On behalf of the provisional government, U.S. President Harrison sent an annexation treaty to
the Senate. But Harrison was in his last days in power, and Grover Cleveland, who replaced
him, withdrew the treaty.
Lili`uokalani wrote to Cleveland requesting redress and young Princess Ka`iulani went to
Washington to appeal for the monarchy and the Hawaiian nation, impressing the president and all
who met her with her beauty and dignity.
President Cleveland sent to Honolulu special commissioner James H. Blount, former
chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Blount's job was to investigate the
circumstances of the revolution, the role Minister Stevens and American troops played in it, and
to determine the feelings of the people of Hawai`i toward the provisional government.
He ordered the troops back to their ship and the American flag taken down and replaced by the
Hawaiian flag.
Blount's final report charged that Stevens conspired in the overthrow of the monarchy, which
would not have taken place without the landing of U.S. troops. Blount recommended restoring
the queen, saying... The undoubted sentiment of the people is for the queen, against the
provisional government and against annexation."
Based on Blount's findings, President Cleveland decided that, in the name of justice, he would do
everything in his power to reinstate the queen, provided she would grant amnesty to those who
had overthrown her government. The idealistic Cleveland, in assuming the provisional
government would willingly relinquish power to her at his request, misjudged the character and
tenacity of her adversaries.
When told of Clevelands decision and the Queens promise of amnesty, Sanford Dole and the
provisional government rejected the right of the American president to interfere in their domestic
affairs and said that if the American forces illegally assisted the revolution, the provisional
government was not responsible.
With their goal of annexation stalled, the leaders of the provisional government decided to form
a republic, while waiting for a more opportune political climate.

On July 4, 1894, Sanford Dole announced the inauguration of the Republic of Hawai`i,
and declared himself president.
In January of 1895, an uprising led by Robert Wilcox failed, resulting in the arrest of Queen
Lili`uokalani. A search revealed a cache of arms buried in the flower garden of her home. She
was arrested Jan. 16, 1895, exactly two years from the date the American troops landed in
support of the revolution. Imprisoned in a corner room on the second story of `Iolani Palace, she
was guarded day and night, allowed only one attendant and no visitors.
Shortly after she was imprisoned, Lili`uokalani was given a document of abdication to sign and
was led to believe that, if she refused, several of her followers were to be shot for treason.
The queen was charged having knowledge of treason and failing to report it and was tried by a
military commission. Found guilty, she was given the maximum sentence of five years
imprisonment at hard labor and a $5,000 fine. It was not carried out, but she remained a prisoner
in the palace. After eight months of imprisonment in the palace, she was allowed to return to her
home, under house arrest. Not until late 1896 was her freedom restored.
She went to Washington, armed with documents signed by many Hawaiians asking President
Cleveland to reinstate their queen. The president welcomed her warmly and she expressed her
gratitude for his earlier efforts to restore her kingdom's independence. But it was now too late for
him to be of further help.
His successor, William McKinley, sent the annexation treaty to the Senate.

Aloha Aina, a group of Hawaiian anti-annexationists, submitted a petition to Congress with

29,000 signatures opposing annexation, and petitions to the Republic of Hawai`i, asking that
annexation be put to a public vote. They were never permitted to vote on the issue.
Adding to the pro-annexation argument was the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in
1898, drawing attention to the Islands' strategic position in the Pacific.
Ultimately, the annexationists won, and Grover Cleveland wrote: "I am ashamed of the whole
affair."
Sovereignty of Hawai`i was formally transferred to the United States at ceremonies at `Iolani
Palace on Aug. 12, 1898. Sanford Dole spoke as the newly appointed governor of the Territory
of Hawai`i. The Hawaiian anthem, ''Hawai`i Pono `I" -- with words written by King Kalakaua -was played at the Hawaiian flag was lowered, and replaced by the American flag and "The StarSpangled Banner." The Hawaiian people had lost their land, their monarchy and now their
independence.
Lili`uokalani remained an indomitable spirit, honored and revered by her people as a queen to
the end. She died in 1917, at the age of 79, still waiting for justice.