Don Wildman
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Marines have come ashore from the USS Boston, marching into the city.
They carry rifles, not for ceremony, but for effect.
No request has been made of their government.
No threat has been issued against American lives or property.
And yet, as the Marines fan out across Honolulu, positioning near government buildings, the message is unmistakable.
Inside the palace, the queen's advisors argue.
Thousands of native Hawaiians stand ready to defend their queen.
She also knows resistance would bring bloodshed, the near certain destruction of her people at the hands of a far stronger power.
The next day, a small group of American and European businessmen proclaims a provisional government to rule Hawaii.
Faced with force she did not invite and cannot defeat, the Queen makes her choice.
She yields her authority under protest, placing her faith, however fragile, in the belief that the United States will correct an injustice committed in its name.
In her written statement, she is precise.
Hawaii's sovereignty has been seized, not surrendered.
No battle is fought, but a kingdom ends.
Not because its people abandoned it, but because a foreign power arrived by sea and rendered resistance impossible.
Good day, American history hit listeners.
Hello, or should I say aloha?