The Queen, after hearing overwhelmingly of the Hawaiians desire for a new constitution, decided to write one, which she did. After the closing of the legislative session on January 14, 1893, she called a special session in the throne room at Iolani Palace, to present the drafted constitution. She had previously received support from several cabinet members. However, they all refused to support the new constitution, betraying their monarch. After much wrangling, Queen Lili’uokalani agreed to wait for two weeks. That gave her enemies the time needed to stage a coup.[1]
A Committee of Safety (totally haole membership) was immediately formed, with the stated intention, “that steps be taken at once to form and declare a provisional government with a view to annexation to the United States.” [2] The Committee of Safety met with United States Minister John L. Stevens, apprised him of the situation, and gained his support for their actions. Stevens, together with the American Consul-General H.W. Severance asked that sailors and marines from the U.S.S. Boston come on land to lend their support. A provisional government was hastily formed, composed entirely of haole. When they presented their demands to the queen on January 17, 1893, threatening bloodshed, Queen Lili’uokalani gave up her throne, to avoid possible loss of life.[3] She firmly believed that the President of the United States would right the wrong done to her country.
President Cleveland sent Congressman James Blount to investigate the situation. He listened to both sides and prepared a voluminous report. President Cleveland then sent Albert S. Willis to ask the queen if she would grant amnesty to the members of the Provisional Government, if the U.S. restored her to the throne. While she at first refused, she later agreed. However when Willis went to tell the Provisional Government, the president, Sanford B. Dole said that he didn’t recognize the right of the President of the United States to meddle in their affairs. What an irony! The Republic of Hawaii was formed on July 4, 1894.[4]
In January of 1895, a group of royalists attempted to overthrow the government. They were caught before any action had taken place. Lili’uokalani and several of the royalists were put on trial, and found guilty of treason. She was put under house arrest for eight months. During that time she wrote music and entries in her diaries. In July of 1898 President McKinley signed into law the annexation of Hawaii. Although she made trips to speak to President McKinley, it was to no avail.
A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, Mabel Craft, described the scene as the Hawaiian flag was lowered for the last time, and the American flag rose in its place. “The raising of the American flag over the capitol of the Kamehamehas was impressive-not because of the size of the crowd, because it was not large; not for the tumult, for it was strangely quiet; not for the elaborate ceremonies, for they were very simple-but because on that day a nationality was snuffed out like a spent candle, and a bigger, clearer light set up in its place.” “As for the Hawaiians, they were not there. They were shut up in their houses, from the queen’s stately mansion, to the meanest shed; windows and doors closed-as lonely and somber as places of death.”[5]
Lili’uokalani lived to the age of seventy-nine, loved and revered by the Hawaiian people. She died at Washington Place on November 11, 1917. It seems that this remarkable woman could very possibly been one of Hawaii’s greatest monarchs if the times had been different.
[1] Paul Bailey, Those Kings and Queens of Old Hawaii, A Mele to Their Memory (Westernlore Books, Los Angeles, 1975) 349-350.
[2] Bailey, 351.
[3] Kathleen Dickenson Mellen, An Island Kingdom Passes (Hastings House: New York, 1958) 268.
[4] Bailey, 358-363.
[5] Mabel Craft, San Francisco Chronicle, quoted in An Island Kingdom Passes, 347.
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