During the 1780s and 1790s, chiefs often fought for power. After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and forced cession of the island of
Kauaʻi in 1810, all inhabited islands were subjugated under a single ruler who became known as
King Kamehameha the Great. He established the
House of Kamehameha,
a dynasty that ruled the kingdom until 1872.
After
Kamehameha II inherited the throne in 1819,
American Protestant missionaries to
Hawaii converted many
Hawaiians to
Christianity. Their influence ended many ancient practices, and
Kamehameha III was the first
Christian king. One prominent
Protestant missionary,
Hiram Bingham I, was a trusted adviser to the monarchy during this period. Other missionaries and their descendants became active in commercial and political affairs, leading to future conflicts between the monarchy and its restive American subjects.
Missionaries from other
Christian denominations (such as
Catholics, Mormons, and
Episcopalians) were active, but never converted more than a minority of the
Native Hawaiian population.
Ezra T. Benson appeared to have been the earliest
Mormon missionary to the islands.
The death of the bachelor
King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the popular election of
Lunalilo over
Kalākaua. Lunalilo died the next year, also without naming an heir.
Perhaps "the
People's
King" (Lunalilo) wanted the people to choose his successor as they had chosen him. In 1874 the election was contested within the legislature between Kalākaua and
Emma. This led to riots and the landing of
U.S. and
British troops, and governance passed to the
House of Kalākaua.
In 1887, Kalākaua was forced to
sign the 1887
Constitution of the
Kingdom of Hawaii, which stripped the king of much of his authority. There was a property qualification for voting, which disenfranchised most Hawaiians and immigrant laborers, and favored the wealthier white community.
Resident whites were allowed to vote, but resident
Asians were excluded. Because the 1887 Constitution was signed under threat of violence, it is known as the "
Bayonet Constitution".
King Kalākaua, reduced to a figurehead, reigned until his death in 1891. His sister,
Queen Liliʻuokalani, succeeded him on the throne. She was the last monarch of Hawaii.
In 1893, Queen Liliʻuokalani announced plans for a new constitution. On
January 14, 1893, a group of mostly Euro-American business leaders and residents formed a
Committee of Safety to overthrow the
Kingdom and seek annexation by the
United States.
United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, responding to
a request from the Committee of Safety, summoned a company of
U.S. Marines. As one historian noted, the presence of these troops effectively made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself.
In January 1893, Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown and replaced by a
Provisional Government composed of members of the Committee of Safety. American lawyer
Sanford B. Dole became
President of the Republic in 1894.
Controversy filled the following years as the queen tried to regain her throne. The administration of
President Grover Cleveland commissioned the
Blount Report, which concluded that the removal of Liliʻuokalani was illegal.
The U.S. government first demanded that Queen Liliʻuokalani be reinstated, but the Provisional Government refused.
Congress followed with another investigation, and submitted the
Morgan Report on
February 26, 1894, which found all parties (including Minister Stevens) with the exception of the queen "not guilty" from any responsibility for the overthrow.[65] The accuracy and impartiality of both the Blount and
Morgan reports has been questioned by partisans on both sides of the debate over the events of 1893.
In
1993, a joint
Apology Resolution regarding the overthrow was passed by Congress and signed by
President Clinton, apologizing for the overthrow of the
Hawaiian Kingdom.
The
Provisional Government of Hawaii ended on
July 4, 1894, replaced by the
Republic of Hawaii. The first
Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii in 1885 as contract laborers for the sugar cane and pineapple plantations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii
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- published: 30 Jan 2014
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