| August 12th, 1898 |
 August 12th, 1898. On a warm Hawaiian summer day, the citizens of the newly formed Republic of Hawaii celebrated their annexation as a territory of the United States of America. The Annexation day ceremonies took place on the steps of Iolani palace, the former home of the Hawaiian monarchy before the revolution. The residing members of this young republic were all non-Hawaiians, but American and British citizens that had been voted into office under a provisional government that had overthrown the Hawaiian Monarchy five years earlier. Nearby, in the private home of Princess Kaiulani ironically named Washington Place, The Last Hawaiian Monarch Queen Lilioukalani sat silently surrounded by family, nobles, and other loyalists all of whom had refused to attend the ceremony. Her motto had been 'Onipa'a or "Stand Steadfast" as she did that day as the Hawaiian flag was lowered for the last time from Iolani Palace, and was replaced by the American flag. The road that led the Nation of Hawaii from an independent established kingdom to a territory and eventually a state in the union is one that is scarred with the painful barbs of Manifest Destiny and American colonialism. It is a dark chapter in American History that has not been acknowledged in its entirety and true nature-The illegal and unconstitutional disposition of the Hawaiian people from their land, their nation, and their kingdom. In High school back in Hawaii, I remember taking an U.S. History class that mentioned only a brief section on the overthrow and Annexation of Hawaii. It was a little ironic that even in Hawaii, there are few classes that cover the events in history that brought very land that I was born in to the United States. The lack of information in this event in history in this textbook on American History struck me as similar to the lack of information presented on other negative aspects of American history. Some of these instances include the downplay on the cruelties of slavery in southern schools, the failure to mention the genocide and ruthlessness of the westward expansion against Native American Indians, the underreported anti-German sentiment aimed at German Americans during world war I and II, and the Relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Many Americans today have no knowledge of the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement, or the illegal and unconstitutional events that surround the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. I'd like to present to you today a brief of the events that happened in the last years of the Hawaiian kingdom, and to bring you up to date of the situation of the Hawaiian people today in the State of Hawaii. The Hawaiian Kingdom was an established kingdom of roughly one million inhabitants united under King Kamehameha I at the time of Captain James Cook's discovery in that included eight separate monarchs from 1795 to the overthrow in 1893. Hawaii was a trade power of the Pacific, a major port for ships traveling in the Pacific, trading heavily with foreign nations, especially with sugar. The Hawaiian Kingdom was an established monarchy recognized by treaties established with worldwide powers. Some of these countries included the United States of America, The British Empire, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Tahiti. The financial opportunities in Hawaii attracted foreign businesses came to Hawaii, especially from Great Britain and the United States. In time, these foreign investors gained power in the government and began to demand more land, and more say in Hawaiian policy. In 1887, a group armed non-Hawaiians forced the 7th Hawaiian Monarch King David Kalaukaua to sign the Bayonet Constitution, restricting voting rights of native Hawaiians and severely limited the powers of the Monarchy. Kalaukaua's successor, Lilioukalani sought to regain Hawaiian's voting rights through a new constitution in 1893. Afraid of the new constitution's effects on their investments, on January 14, 1893, 13 prominent foreign businessmen formed the "Committee of Public Safety" in protest of the queen's proposed constitution. At the request of this self appointed committee, and the US representative minister to Hawaii, troops from the USS Boston which was stationed off shore of Honolulu harbor, were deployed into Honolulu to protect American interests. Had it not been for the presence of the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor, and the landing of the Boston's troops into Honolulu, the Monarchy would not have been handed over so easily. Several foreigners took up to arms, forming a citizen's militia, backing the committee of Safety and its leaders. Fearing an armed conflict between loyalist Hawaiians and US troops, Queen Lilioukalani signed the following surrender to the provisional government. The Provisional Government that replaced the Queen and her cabinet were all non-Hawaiians, but more importantly, they were not representative of the people of the kingdom. The first provisional Governor was Sanford B. Dole, the son of an American Missionary. Within an hour of the transfer of power, the newly proclaimed provisional government of Hawaii drafted a treaty to request the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. The president of the United States Grover Cleveland opposed the actions of American citizens in Hawaii, and denounced these acts of war by the US minister to Hawaii, as well the Captain of the USS Boston. The current situation of the Hawaiian people is one that has followed the model of the Native American people. People of Hawaiian ancestry in Hawaii are in the lowest socioeconomic levels, with the poorest education, literacy, health and living conditions. Of the 1,800,000 acres of crown land that was seized in the overthrow, only 239,000 acres have been returned. In 1978 the State of Hawaii funded a study on Native Hawaiian traditions, history, and language. And finally in 1993 President Bill Clinton signed Resolution 103-150, the formal apology to the Hawaiian people for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. I took the opportunity of reading the section of the textbook for the class "History 102 American History from the Civil War to the present" offered at this university. I found a total of two short paragraphs on the annexation of Hawaii, with no mention of the unconstitutional nature of the overthrow, nor to the landing of troops in Honolulu as an act of war under the Constitution. There are 309 recognized nations in America. 308 are Native American Indian tribes, and the 309th is the United States of America. There is no recognized sovereign nation of Hawaii. Why is this? Why have the Hawaiian people been dispossessed of their kingdom, their land, and in addition, had their story left out of American history? Hawaii was an independent Nation. Not a bunch of wild primitives roaming the banana fields and surfing all day. Hawaii was an established Constitutional Monarchy, self sufficient with their own tax system, minted currency, an unique language, culture, and way of life. Hawaii had her own King and Queen, established treaties with 12 other world powers including Britain and the United States, whose citizens took place in the overthrow. Without the consent of Congress as it says in the Constitution, and against the wishes of the President of the United States Grover Cleveland. Queen Lilioukalani is the only Queen to be overthrown by the United States; Iolani Palace is the only royal palace on American soil today. All of these facts have been stuffed beneath the bureaucracy and pride of the United States government. For the main part, textbooks used at National Universities as great as this one have failed to tell the true nature of the United States actions in Hawaii at the turn of the century. The federal government has issued a formal apology, but so what? Today in 1998, five years after the official resolution 103-150, still many Americans haven't even heard of Hawaiian sovereignty. So much has happened to Hawaii, and to America to make the extremes of Hawaiian Sovereignty a probable future. However, the Hawaiian Nation can still live on, stand "Steadfast" in the hearts and minds of every American. After all, Hawaiian history, IS American History. I urge you to go out and search for the truth, because the truth is out there. I was very impressed at the extent of information that this very university has to offer on a subject unheard of as mine. I was impressed by the amount of information and books that is available on this subject at the Historical Society Library on this very campus. The information is out there, on the world wide web, in the library, in the stories of old and in the people who keep the memories alive. It is important for each and every one of us, as Americans, to know of our history. History has a steady trend to repeat itself, as it can be seen in war, injustices, and crimes against humanity. More importantly, it is vital that we as the youth of America learn from the accurate and through depiction of our own history, in order to grow and progress into the next century and beyond. "It is hardly necessary for me to state that the questions arising from our relations with Hawaii have caused serious embarrassment. Just prior to the installation of the present Administration the existing Government of Hawaii had been suddenly overthrown and a treaty of annexation had been negotiated between the Provisional Government of the islands and the United States and submitted to the Senate for ratification"……(Grover Cleveland 1898) |