A Revolution In Hawaii
Queen Liliuokalani Deposed From The Throne Grasping For More Power She Fell The Monarchy Abrogated And A Provisional Government Established -- A Commission To Ask For Annexation To The United States -- Troops From The United States Warship Boston Preserving Peace In Honolulu -- The Overthrow Of The Hawaiian Dynasty Accomplished Without Bloodshed -- The Movement Precipitated By An Attempt Of The Queen To Secure More Absolute Prerogatives.San Francisco, Jan. 28 -- The Hawaiian steamer Claudine arrived at this port at 2 o'clock this morning with the news of a revolution at Honolulu. The revolutionists have succeeded in overthrowing the Government of Hawaii, and United States troops have been landed.
A provisional government has been established, and a commission, headed by Mr. Thurston, came in on the Claudine en route to Washington with a petition to the American Government to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States. The commission will leave here to-morrow afternoon and reach Washington next Friday.
Queen Liliuokalani has been deposed from power, the monarchy abrogated, Government buildings seized, and the new provisional Ministry, composed of four members, is sustained by bayonets of volunteers.
Queen Liliuokalani attempted on Saturday, Jan. 14, to promulgate a new Constitution, depriving foreigners of the right of franchise and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the same time giving her the power of appointing a new House. This was resisted by the foreign element of the community, which at once appointed a committee of safety of thirteen members, which called a mass meeting of their classes, at which 1,200 or 1,500 were present. That meeting unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the action of the Queen and authorizing the committee to take into consideration whatever was necessary for the public safety.
They made it sound so official and reasonable back in the day, huh? Well, check out how the NYTimes described it in today's On This Day page from today:
On Jan. 17, 1893, Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.
That explanation is how I understood it, too. Basically, the USG supported a group of sugar growers who didn't want to pay higher taxes for selling to the US mainland. So, being descended from Americans, they decided to overthrow the native government and apply to the USG for territory status so they could avoid said taxes. Finally, in 1993, the USG officially apologized for supporting the overthrow.
Read the full article the NYT printed about the overthrow back in 1893 here.
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