Republic of Hawaii 187015 226078503 2008-07-16T18:59:53Z Arjuna808 280700 rv POV edits to last version by Andycjp {{POV|date=December 2007}} {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = |conventional_long_name = Republic of Hawaii |common_name = Hawaii |continent = Oceania |country = United States |government_type = Republic | |year_start = 1894 |year_end = 1898 |event_start = |date_start = July 4 |event_end = [[Territory of Hawaii|Annexed]] by the [[United States|US]] |date_end = July 4 | |p1 = Provisional Government of Hawaii |flag_p1 = Flag of Hawaii.svg |s1 = Territory of Hawaii |flag_s1 = Flag of Hawaii.svg |s2 = United States |flag_s2 = Flag of the United States.svg |image_flag = Flag of Hawaii.svg |flag = Flag of Hawaii |flag_type = Flag |image_map = Hawaii Islands2.png |image_map_caption = Republic of Hawaii | |capital = Honolulu |common_languages = [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], [[English language|English]] |religion = |currency = [[United States dollar|U.S. dollar]], [[Hawaiian dollar]] |leader1 = Sanford B. Dole }} [[Image:Iolani Palace (1328).JPG|thumb|300px|[[Iolani Palace|{{okina}}Iolani Palace]] in [[Honolulu]], formerly the residence of the Hawaiian monarch, was the capitol of the Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i.]] The '''Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i''' was the formal name of the government that controlled [[Hawaii|Hawai{{okina}}i]] from [[1894]] to [[1898]] when it was run as a [[republic]]. The republic period occurred between the administration of the [[Provisional Government of Hawaii|Provisional Government of Hawai{{okina}}i]] which ended on [[July 4]], 1894 and the adoption of the [[Newlands Resolution]] in the [[United States Congress]] in which the Republic was [[annexed]] to the United States and became the [[Territory of Hawaii|Territory of Hawai{{okina}}i]] on [[July 7]], [[1898]]. The administration of the Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i was multiracial. It included men of European ancestry, like [[Sanford B. Dole]] and [[Lorrin A. Thurston]], who were both native-born subjects of the Hawaiian kingdom and fluent speakers of the Hawaiian language. Dole had previously been an elected member of the Kingdom legislature from Koloa, Kaua{{okina}}i and a Justice of the Kingdom's Supreme Court. Thurston had served as Minister of Interior under King [[Kalākaua]]. The Speaker of the House of the Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i was native Hawaiian John Kaulukou who had previously been a Royalist opposing annexation. ==Blount Investigation== The first order of business for the Provisional Government after the successful overthrow of Lili{{okina}}uokalani was to form an interim government while Lorrin A. Thurston was in Washington, DC to negotiate annexation with Congress. One group proposed the assumption of power of Princess [[Ka'iulani|Victoria Ka{{okina}}iulani]] while a body formed by the Committee of Safety could act as a regency government. With the physical absence of the princess from the islands, the proposal was immediately struck down. [[Image:President Grover Cleveland.jpg|thumb|left|President Grover Cleveland]] The Provisional Government was dealt a huge blow when United States President [[Benjamin Harrison]], who was supportive of the annexation of Hawaii, was voted out of the [[White House]]. [[Grover Cleveland]], an anti-imperialist, assumed the presidency and right away worked to stop the treaty of annexation. Just a month before Cleveland became president, Lorrin A. Thurston had struck a deal with Congress as it prepared to ratify a treaty of annexation. Cleveland, having heard the appeals of Princess Victoria Ka{{okina}}iulani on behalf of her imprisoned aunt, withdrew the treaty and launched an investigation of the matter. Cleveland appointed [[James Henderson Blount]] of [[Macon, Georgia]] as Commissioner Paramount and Minister to Hawai{{okina}}i. His chief mission was to investigate the overthrow of Lili{{okina}}uokalani's government. Blount concluded in his report that the overthrow had utilized the aid of the [[John L. Stevens]], United States Minister to Hawai{{okina}}i who ordered the landing of troops from the [[USS Boston (1884)|USS ''Boston'']]. On the basis of Blount's report, Cleveland sent [[Albert Sydney Willis]] of [[Kentucky]] to [[Honolulu]] as Minister to Hawai{{okina}}i with secret instructions. Willis, initially rebuffed by the queen, obtained Lili{{okina}}uokalani's promise to grant an amnesty after a considerable delay. After securing that promise, Willis made a formal demand for the dissolution of the Provisional Government and complete restoration of the monarchy, although unbeknownst to him by that time it was too late since Cleveland had already referred the matter to Congress. Taking the demand at face value, on [[December 23]], [[1893]], Sanford B. Dole sent a reply to Willis flatly refusing to surrender the authority of the Provisional Government to the deposed queen.<ref>{{cite book | last =Daws | first =Gavan | authorlink = Gavan Daws | title = Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands | publisher = [[University of Hawaii Press]] | date= 1968 | pages = 278 | isbn = 9780824803247 }}</ref> ==Morgan Investigation== In response to Cleveland's referral of the matter, the Senate passed a resolution empowering its Foreign Relations Committee to hold public hearings under oath, and cross-examine witnesses, to investigate U.S. involvement in the revolution and also to investigate whether it had been proper for President Cleveland to appoint Blount and give him extraordinary powers to represent the U.S. and intervene in Hawai{{okina}}i without Senate confirmation. Senator [[John Tyler Morgan]] chaired the investigation. The findings of the [[Morgan Report]] contradicted the assertions earlier made by Blount and Cleveland, and on February 26, 1894 was submitted. It concluded that the U.S. troops had remained completely neutral during the overthrow, exonerated Minister Stevens in landing troops, and concluded Blount's appointment and investigation without congressional approval were constitutional. However, the nine member Senate Foreign Relations Committee that submitted the report could not agree on a final conclusion, and the oft-executive summary was signed only by Morgan himself.<ref>{{cite book | last =Russ | first =William Adam | authorlink =William Adam Russ | title =The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-94) | publisher =Associated University Presses | date =1992 | pages =335 | isbn =0945636431 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Tate | first =Merze | authorlink =Merze Tate | title =The United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom: A Political History | publisher =Yale University Press | date =1965 | pages =253 }}</ref>. Following the Morgan Report, and the [[Turpie Resolution]] on [[May 31]], [[1894]] in which [[United States Congress|Congress]] prohibited any further intervention by the president and other government officials against the Provisional Government of Hawai{{okina}}i,{{Dubious|date=March 2008}} Cleveland officially recognized the Provisional Government. [[Image:robertwilcoxhawaii.jpg|thumb|194px|left|Robert William Wilcox]] ==Establishment of the Republic== The Provisional Government feared that Grover Cleveland might continue interfering in the internal affairs of Hawai{{okina}}i by trying to restore the monarchy. The Provisional Government also realized there would be no annexation until Grover Cleveland's term of office ended; and they wanted to establish a more permanent government for the continuing independent nation of Hawai{{okina}}i. Therefore the Provisional Government called to order a Constitutional Convention on [[May 30]], [[1894]]. The Constitutional Convention drafted a [[constitution]] for a Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i. The Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i was proclaimed on [[4 July]] [[1894]] at [[Aliiolani Hale|Ali{{okina}}iōlani Hale]]. [[Sanford B. Dole]] became [[President of Hawaii|president]]. ==Wilcox Rebellion of 1895== ''Main article:'' [[Wilcox rebellions]] Hawaiian revolutionary [[Robert William Wilcox]] led several rebellions in pursuit of the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy. He led an army of 150 Hawaiians, Europeans and Chinese in an attempt in [[1889]]. Wilcox was brought to trial but released as juries refused to find him guilty of wrongdoing. In [[1895]], Wilcox participated in another attempt, this time to overthrow the Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i and to restore Lili{{okina}}uokalani to power. Royalist supporters landed a cargo of arms and ammunition from [[San Francisco, California]] in a secret [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]] location. At the location on [[January 6]], [[1895]], a company of royalists met to draft plans to capture the government buildings by surprise. A premature encounter with a squad of police alarmed Honolulu and the plans were abandoned as the royalists were quickly routed. Wilcox spent several days in hiding in the mountains before being captured. The son of one pro-annexationist was killed. Several other skirmishes occurred during the following week resulting in the capture of the leading conspirators and their followers. The government allegedly found arms and ammunition and some potentially evidential documents on the premises of [[Washington Place]], Lili{{okina}}uokalani's private residence implicating her in the plot. ==Lili{{okina}}uokalani's trial== [[Image:Princess kaiulani.jpg|thumb|194px|Princess [[Kaiulani|Victoria Ka{{okina}}iulani]].]] The Republic of Hawaii put their former queen on trial. The prosecution asserted that Lili{{okina}}uokalani had committed "misprision of treason," because she allegedly knew that guns and bombs for the Wilcox attempted counter-revolution had been hidden in the flower bed of her personal residence at Washington Place. She was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment at hard labor and a fine of $10,000. But the imprisonment was served in a small bedroom at {{okina}}Iolani Palace where she had a full-time maid-servant, and her "hard labor" consisted of composing songs and sewing a protest quilt containing symbols of the monarchy. After eight months she was paroled to her Washington Place home by President Sanford B. Dole. A year later she was granted a full pardon, including the right to travel; and President Dole gave her a passport to travel to Washington D.C. "to visit friends." However, she used that opportunity to lobby the U.S. Senate in 1897 against annexation. [[Image:presidentsanforddole.jpg|thumb|left|194px|Sanford B. Dole, former advisor to Queen Lili{{okina}}uokalani, President and then Governor of Hawai{{okina}}i]] ==Dissolution of the Republic== Upon the inauguration of [[William McKinley]] as president of the United States on [[March 4]], [[1897]], the Republic of Hawai{{okina}}i resumed negotiations for annexation, which continued into the summer of 1898. By this time, the President saw the islands as having gained a new strategic relevance in the wake of the [[Spanish-American War]]. On [[June 16]] of that year, a new treaty of annexation was signed. As the [[United States Senate|Senate]] appeared uncertain to ratify the treaty, its supporters took extreme measures by passing the Newlands Resolution through which the cession was accepted, ratified and confirmed by a vote of 42 to 21. The [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] accepted the [[Newlands Resolution]] by a vote of 209 to 91. McKinley signed the bill on [[July 7]], [[1898]]. The formal transfer of sovereignty took place on [[August 12]], [[1898]] with the hoisting of the flag of the United States over {{okina}}Iolani Palace. ==External links== * [http://morganreport.org morganreport.org] Online images and transcriptions of the entire Morgan Report * [http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hawaii-petition/ Background of the petitions against Annexation] ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * Allen, Helena G. ''Sanford Ballard Dole: Hawai{{okina}}i's Only President, 1844-1926'' (1998). * Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson. ''Hawai{{okina}}i: A History, from Polynesian Kingdom to American State'' (2003) * Schweizer, Niklaus R. ''His Hawaiian Excellency: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Annexation of Hawai{{okina}}i'' (1994). {{Hawaii history}} [[Category:Former countries in Oceania|Hawaii, Republic of]] [[Category:Former regions and territories of the United States]] [[Category:History of Hawaii]] [[Category:Short-lived states|Hawaii, Republic of]] [[de:Hawaii]] [[es:República de Hawaii]] [[fr:République de Hawaii]] [[ms:Republik Hawaii]] [[vi:Cộng hòa Hawaii]]