The Annexation of Hawaiʻi
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What events led to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893?
It is the afternoon of January 17th, 1893, in Honolulu. From the veranda of Iolani Palace, Queen Liliuokalani watches as an incredible scene unfolds. U.S. 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. Some urge resistance. Thousands of native Hawaiians stand ready to defend their queen. Liliuokalani knows this. 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 does not abdicate. 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.
Music
Good day, American history hit listeners. Hello, or should I say aloha? Well, perhaps not, given that I'm a guy raised in New Jersey, which, as the crow flies, is about 5,000 miles from a certain gleaming archipelago in the middle of the vast ocean where one can hear that greeting uttered properly by a native-born speaker. We're all Americans, right? Well, at least officially since 1959, when the United States welcomed its 50th state into the Union, and finally our nation stretched from sea to shining sea and then beyond, all the way to that paradise of the Pacific, Hawaii. How Hawaii's U.S. statehood came to pass is a painful tale, more so than most U.S. mainlanders realize. One rife with issues of colonization and exploitation, and even a good old-fashioned coup d'etat, a controversial history brewing discontent even today on those glorious islands.
And for anyone lucky enough to be planning a trip there or going there to live and work, it is a fundamental chronology. We'll discuss today with Noah Dolem, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, focusing primarily on 19th century Hawaii. Professor Dolem, thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for having me, Don. I appreciate it. I want to get one thing right just as we begin. What is the proper pronunciation of Hawaii?
It is Hawaii. We call it an okina.
How was the Hawaiian Kingdom structured before European influence?
It looks like a backwards apostrophe. It's a glottal stop. Yeah. So you say it Hawaii. Okay. And what does the word actually mean? We actually don't know what Hawaii means. It's such an old word. We have different stories of how the islands might have been named. But for our actual definition of Hawaii, we actually just don't have one. It's just such an old word in our culture. Interesting.
But it's a Polynesian. Yeah. Yeah. There have been stories of cultural appropriation and destruction throughout all of American history, but Hawaii is one example, as demonstrated by our mispronunciations of language. Okay, so this episode specifically recounts the American overthrow of the Hawaiian sovereign leadership in 1898, the year of my grandmother's birth, interestingly. How we seize this territory and why. But first, let's understand what sort of nation we're talking about. Can you describe the kingdom of Hawaii before European settlers came politically, geographically? What were the islands and how do they compare to what we have today?
Right. So prior to the unification of the islands in 1810, Hawaii was actually not Hawaii. It was an archipelago of islands, each with its own name, right? You have Kauai, Maui, Oahu, Hawaii Island. These were separate island chiefdoms or kingdoms.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What events led to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893?
0:01–3:19
2
How was the Hawaiian Kingdom structured before European influence?
3:19–7:13
3
What were the effects of European contact on Hawaiian society?
7:13–13:01
4
How did the Bayonet Constitution impact Hawaiian governance?
13:01–18:44
5
What role did Queen Liliuokalani play in the struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty?
18:44–23:02
6
What was the significance of the Committee of Safety in the overthrow?
23:02–27:31
7
How did the U.S. government respond to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom?
27:31–33:05
8
What were the consequences of annexation for Hawaii and its people?
33:05–56:33