106: The US Annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
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Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park, as he was known, made a recent appearance in our Origin of the Movies episode.

because in addition to the electric light and countless other inventions, he also gave us the motion picture camera. It reminded me that Edison didn't do well in the traditional school classroom when he was a boy. This prolific inventor and successful businessman learned better at home. At school, it's reported that he'd likely be lost in thought. His mother, Nancy, recognized a different approach to learning was required for her son. And the rest is history. As a parent, I appreciate that.

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We're in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Kingdom of Hawaii, where a large crowd of native Hawaiians are standing outside the gorgeous veranda-wrapped two-story royal residence, Iolani Palace. They're waiting excitedly for Queen Lili'uokalani to announce a new constitution, but inside, she's navigating a political nightmare. Here's the deal. Lili'uokalani, or Lili'u as she's known, desperately wants a new constitution.

The current one, called the Bayonet Constitution since her predecessor and brother, King Kalakaua, signed it under duress, grants men the right to vote on the basis of wealth, not citizenship. This excludes many native Hawaiians while enfranchising many foreigners. But Liliu's constitution will change that by giving the vote to Hawaiian citizens, native-born and naturalized alike, and excluding foreigners. Liliu just needs her four cabinet members to sign it.

But they've left her waiting in the palace's blue room for hours. Finally, they arrive, but refuse to sign. Liliu has had enough. Dressed in a fine lavender silk gown, the 54-year-old queen slams her fist on the table, proclaiming in a firm yet calm voice, "Gentlemen, I have no desire to listen to any advice from you. I have decided to promulgate this constitution and do it now." Still, their protestations continue.

Despite having had ample opportunity, they claim not to have read it. Her attorney general of American descent, Arthur Peterson, points out this path to replacing the bayonet constitution is itself unconstitutional. Give them two weeks, he insists. They'll find a way forward. Though undoubtedly frustrated, Liliu acquiesces. It's now 4 p.m.,

The queen exits the blue room and heads to the throne room where she informs her expectant foreign and native guests that the constitution will be delayed. I have listened to the thousands of voices of my people that have come to me. I was ready and expected to proclaim a new constitution today as a suitable occasion for my dear people. But with regret, I say I have met with obstacles that prevent it. I'm obliged to postpone the granting of a constitution for a few days. You have my love.

And with sorrow, I dismiss you." Liliu then delivers a similar message to her eager subjects waiting outside from her second story veranda. But as she reassures, her political nemesis, a Hawaiian-born balding 35-year-old of New England descent, Lauren A. Thurston, is preparing to topple her government.

Scared that this new constitution could mean the US will never annex Hawaii, Loren gathers members of the not-subtly-named Annexation Club for a meeting at William O. Smith's law office. With a nod to the French Revolution, they form a committee of safety. Only some of its 13 members are Hawaiian subjects, but nine have American roots and all are of European descent. And yes, Loren Thurston's on the committee. He motions for US annexation. The committee unanimously agrees.

The next day, Sunday, January 15th, Lorne brings his annexation idea to two cabinet members, Attorney General Arthur Peterson and Interior Minister John Colburn. Whoa. Though not the most loyal to the Queen, they aren't sure about this plan. Disappointed but undeterred, Lorne returns to the committee. They make plans for a provisional government and mass meeting to be held the next day. It's now Monday, January 16th.

The Queen's loyal marshal, Charlie Wilson, has caught wind of this committee's intentions. He heads to William Smith's law office to confront Lauren. "I want this meeting stopped."

As Charlie leaves, Lauren's committee seeks out the U.S. minister to the Hawaiian kingdom, John L. Stevens.

They ask him for U.S. forces to protect them, their lives, and property from, quote, the revolutionary acts of Queen Lili'uokwilani, close quote. The gray-haired and bearded minister agrees with their interpretation of events and will oblige. At two o'clock that afternoon, the committee holds its mass meeting at the Honolulu Rifles Armory.

It draws roughly 1,000 participants, later described by the Daily Bulletin newspaper as, quote, nearly all the male white foreign element in the city, close quote. At the same time, the queen and throngs of her supporters, native and foreign alike, gather at Palace Square. But only hours later, at 5 p.m., the U.S. minister's promised protection comes marching in. 162 U.S. Marines and sailors from the USS Boston. ♪

The following day, January 17th, a provisional government is created, quote, to exist until terms of union with the United States of America have been negotiated and agreed upon, close quote. Now, it took some cajoling, but they've convinced the respectable, more moderately-minded Hawaiian Supreme Court judge, Sanford Dole, to serve as the president. And at 2 p.m., this new government demands that Queen Liliu abdicate the Hawaiian throne.

Liliu has been beaten, but not defeated. Brilliantly, she doesn't write in abdication, but as an acknowledgement of her de facto loss of power as an appeal for aid to the United States.

I, Lili'uokalani, by the grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a provisional government of and for this kingdom, that I yield to the superior force of the United States of America, whose minister plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens,

has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the said provisional government.

Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and perhaps the loss of life, I do, under this protest and impelled by said forces, yield my authority until such time as the government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. But which narrative will the U.S. government believe?

That of its minister and the Committee of Safety? Or that of the Queen? Both versions will soon travel thousands of miles across the Pacific and the continent for the consideration of the U.S. President and Congress. Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and I'd like to tell you a story. History That Doesn't Suck

Continuing through America's age of empire, today I'll tell you an oft-forgotten tale, the story of the end of the Hawaiian Kingdom and U.S. annexation. We'll start with the big picture. That means meeting a British explorer named James Cook, meeting early Christian missionaries coming to this chain of islands in the Pacific, and then noting how they, their descendants, and other immigrants from America and Europe begin to build wealth through the sugar industry.

From there, we'll go deeper on things we've touched on in this episode's opening. We'll learn why King Kalakaua signed the Bayonet Constitution, then return to Queen Lili'uokalani's mission to overturn it and retain her throne. And although I realize you probably know how this is going to end, I think you'll find it an engrossing story. So, let's say aloha to the Hawaiian Kingdom.

And we begin more than a century ago in the company of a square-jawed seafarer, Captain James Cook. Rewind. It's roughly 7 a.m., February 14th, 1779. The sharp-eyed, heavily-grained British explorer, Captain James Cook, and the men of two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery, are in the pristine tropical paradise of Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaii.

But they're not here enjoying coconuts and relaxing on the beach. No, the captain and 12 of his men, guns loaded, are furiously marching to the home of the king and head chief of the island, Kalaniopuu or Teriobu, as these mostly British sailors call the monarch. Arriving at the royal residence, Captain Cook orders his lieutenant to bring Kalaniopuu outside to meet.

The old Ali'i Nui, that is, the supreme monarch in native Hawaiian, is uneasy with this sudden, seeming hostility from the foreigners, but he agrees to a sit-down with the captain. That's unfortunate. The Hawaiian ruler has no idea he's about to be kidnapped. Okay, time out. Let's get some quick background on where all this trouble in paradise is coming from.

It's been about a year since Captain James Cook became the first recorded Westerner to stumble upon these Pacific Isles, or the Sandwich Islands as he's dubbed them. Initially, the Hawaiians welcomed these seafarers and helped support them with much-needed supplies. But soon, the warm welcome waned. Both groups began to distrust and steal from one another. Nor does it help that the Hawaiians are preparing to attack a neighboring tribe on the island of Maui.

So one week ago, on February 6th, the mostly British crews set out to leave Kealakekua Bay for good, but had to turn back when bad weather damaged the foremaster James Cook's sloop, the Resolution. Now, things are even more tense than before. Writing yesterday, on February 13th, here's how one of James Cook's men described the situation. "'Our return to this bay was as disagreeable to us as it was to the inhabitants, for we were reciprocally tired of each other.'"

It was also equally evident from the looks of the natives, as well as every other appearance, that our friendship was now at an end, and that we had nothing to do but to hasten our departure to some different island where our vices were not known, and where our intrinsic virtues might gain us another short space of being wondered at. So to say things are tense is an understatement, and yet that very same day, the crew discovers that one of the cutters, or longboats, has been stolen.

and now we've come full circle. Wanting revenge for this theft is why these sailors are kidnapping the Hawaiian ruler today. But nothing could prepare them for what will follow. As Captain James Cook and a team of no more than 20 men escort King Kalaniopuu down to the shore as their hostage, the monarch's favorite wife, Queen Kane Kapolei, shouts after her husband. But he doesn't stop. The king continues on with this British crew, which only confirms the Hawaiian's suspicions that something's amiss.

They follow the small cadre of sailors down to the shore. Soon, a few hundred Hawaiians are on the beach, ready to fight for their monarch. Now it's at this point that things get messy. We know that Queen Kanekapolei pleads with her husband to remain ashore. We know that other Hawaiians join her, telling King Kalaniopuu to stop. That the British will kill him, as they suppose, if he boards one of those ships.

But at what moment things become more heated? At what moment some Hawaiians begin throwing stones? That's hard to say. It's also impossible to know exactly how James Cook is reacting. We know that he gives up on taking the king as he and his men move quickly to their boats, ready to flee to the safety of their ships. But does a rock hit the captain? Sources conflict. Does he respond by firing a blank warning shot or by shooting the Hawaiian who threw it? Again, sources conflict.

I can tell you one thing for certain though, a Hawaiian stabs James, likely in the neck. At this point, a throng of Hawaiians beat and stabbed the captain as the surf washes over him. They also kill four marines as sailors in the longboats fire on and kill several Hawaiians. The British crewmen and Hawaiians skirmish in the days to follow until the two ships depart on February 22nd. They do so without the Resolutions captain. James Cook is dead.

The British will come to believe the Hawaiians ate the captain's remains, but the truth is they regret how things escalated after the fact. The Hawaiian people show their fallen foe's corpse the greatest respect, laying him to rest with the highest honors according to their traditions. Nonetheless, it's clear that the Hawaiian people do not wish to have outsiders trifling in their affairs. Now you might think that Europeans and Westerners would want to keep their distance from the Hawaiian islands after hearing the tale of Captain James Cook's demise.

But if so, you'd be wrong. As 19th century Europe and the emerging United States undergo the Industrial Revolution, they increasingly look to places like China, India, and Japan to market their goods. The economy is only becoming more and more global, and Hawaii just so happens to be a perfect midpoint between the American West Coast and the nations of East Asia, or the Orient, as the West currently calls it.

Thus, as the years go on, Hawaii will only see more sailors on its shores. In the meanwhile, King Kamehameha, or Kamehameha the Great, as the warrior is known, is uniting the disparate warring islands. He brings all of the isles under his rule as the Kingdom of Hawaii by 1810. Ah, so sailors from distant shores will now deal with a stronger government here in the middle of the Pacific. But merchants, sailors, and whalers aren't the only ones visiting the island kingdom.

Christian missionaries are ready to convert the people of Hawaii, and they've come to stay. It's an unspecified date, likely the fall of 1842 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Four-year-old Lili'uokalani sits unhappily atop the shoulders of a tall, stout, very large woman, as the child will later describe the wife of a local chief named Kai Kai. Now, we know Lili'uokalani.

We met the future queen in the opening of this episode. But why is our young princess Lily-Wu upset today? Well, Kai-Kai is carrying the four-year-old toward that which has struck fear into the heart of many a child, the first day of school. Kai-Kai sets the young girl down at the front of the schoolhouse, but rather than go through the seemingly massive doors, little Lily-Wu can't bring herself to go in.

The poor child begins to weep bitterly and grasps onto Kai-kai, praying that she'll take her back home and away from this place. But even as Liliu clings to Kai-kai's neck, the older woman lets her know she can't return with her. This is the royal boarding school after all, and the children may only return on vacation or an occasional Sunday during the semester. As Liliu's tears begin to dry, the school children come out and crowd around the four-year-old to see who this newcomer is.

Lili'u will later recall this moment. Plenty of these faces should look familiar to Lili'u. They hail from some of the most prominent families on the islands.

Several of the children here are grandchildren of King Kamehameha, the man who united the islands as one kingdom just a few decades prior, and thus are in line for the throne. Indeed, these young students include the future Hawaiian monarchs Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, and Luna Lilo. They're here at the royal school, sometimes referred to as the chief's children's school, to learn the duties of royalty. And soon, Liliu meets the man running this place, Mr. Amos Starr Cook.

Oh, you heard that right. That's definitely not a native Hawaiian name. Amos and his wife Juliet, aka Mother Cook, are New Englanders. The dark-haired couple in their early 30s have come to Hawaii on a mission. Literally. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent the Cooks and plenty of other Christians from the States to preach the good word in the Hawaiian islands. These efforts have paid off in the past two decades. Christian missionaries have gained the trust of King Kamehameha III,

They now teach the royal children to speak and read English, using the Bible of course, as well as take them to church every Sunday. And Christians like Amos aren't just having a social and cultural effect on the Hawaiian kingdom. The Hawaiian government has changed too.

Here are just a couple of lines from the Constitution of Hawaii signed by Kamehameha III only two years earlier in 1840: "It is our design to regulate our kingdom according to the above principles and thus seek the greatest prosperity both of all the chiefs and all the people of these Hawaiian islands. But we are aware that we cannot ourselves alone accomplish such an object. God must be our aid, for it is his providence alone to give perfect protection and prosperity."

Wherefore, we first present our supplication to Him, that He will guide us to right measures and sustain us in our work. It is therefore our fixed decree: 1. That no law shall be enacted which is at variance with the word of the Lord Jehovah, or at variance with the general spirit of His word. All laws of the islands shall be in consistency with the general spirit of God's law.

So, Hawaii has not only become a constitutional monarchy, but a Christian one at that. This is definitely not the sandwich islands Captain James Cook encountered six decades ago.

The Kingdom of Hawaii is becoming increasingly westernized, just as we're seeing with the education of little Liliu. When her studies at the Royal School are completed, she moves on to a day school run by the American Reverend Edward Beckwith. Meanwhile, Amos Cook is shaking up his missionary efforts. With the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions reducing funds for Hawaiian missionaries, he needs to find a way to make up the financial difference.

So Amos Cook teams up with fellow American missionary Samuel Northrup Castle to found a corporation. They call it Castle and Cook. Over the next few decades, this duo helps to grow a Hawaiian sugar industry, which really takes off in 1875 when the island nation signs a free trade enabling reciprocity treaty with the U.S.

But sweet as that may sound, some of the American transplants benefiting from this arrangement will soon wield their incredible economic power in disastrous ways for Native Hawaiians. Are you earning and investing in the stock market? In real estate? How about in relationships? Are you earning and investing in your life?

I'm Doc G, semi-retired hospice physician and host of the Earn and Invest podcast, where we have the 201 or next level conversations about money and life. Not only how you make money and grow it, but also how you use your wealth to create a better and more fulfilling existence. Join us every Monday and Thursday wherever you listen to fine podcasts. It's a warm tropical summer afternoon, June 30th, 1887.

A large group of people have gathered in the one-story building at the corner of Punchbowl and Baritania Streets in Honolulu, Hawaii. This building is actually the armory for a militia group known as the Honolulu Rifles, some of whose men are now standing guard outside the door. And those arms are a draw for today's meeting. The men here, mostly of European or American descent, as well as a few of Chinese descent, certainly do not want the police stopping them.

They're furious with the king and want to see huge changes, if not his actual removal from the throne. Okay, a little background here. Just like the Christian missionary-turned-entrepreneur Amos Starr Cook, many white transplants to Hawaii, especially those from America, have transitioned into business ventures on the island. They've come to dominate the economy, particularly by exporting sugar.

But they don't control things politically. Native Hawaiians and other foreigners, like the Chinese, still vote for the Hawaiian legislature, and members of the king's cabinet are mostly Hawaiian. If they are white, be they immigrants or island-born, they're at least pro-king. Tensions started ramping up last year, though, when the legislature introduced a bill to create a legal, licensed opium monopoly. This upset the now quite wealthy community of missionaries and their descendants.

Worse still in their eyes, King Kalakaua not only showed support for the bill, but it seems his administration accepted bribes from within the Chinese community that would influence who receives a license for this opium monopoly. So, this angry but wealthy minority of non-citizens formed a group to advance their political aims. They call it the Hawaiian League. Meanwhile, the Honolulu Rifles, which, again, is the militia in whose armory today's meeting is happening, have effectively come to serve this league.

Its members gladly protect this meeting of minds filled with thoughts ranging from reform to overthrowing the king to U.S. annexation of the kingdom. And now that you're up to speed, let's rejoin the meeting. It's standing room only for the thousand or more people cramming themselves inside the Honolulu Rifles Armory. At 2 p.m., though, their waiting pays off. The bushy-bearded Sanford Dole ascends the platform and calls the meeting to order.

Sanford may have recently resigned the league out of concerns for its growing radicalism, but he's agreed to open this meeting. He then nominates Peter Cushman Jones, the owner of a massive sugar plantation, as chair. The crowd enthusiastically applauds as the portly mustachioed sugar planter rises to speak. Fellow citizens, I feel greatly honored in being called to preside over this, the largest and most important meeting ever held on these islands.

We have assembled here this afternoon in a constitutional manner, resolved to ask the king for good government, something which we have not had. We can present our resolution in a firm, determined, and dignified manner because we have determined to have what we ask. We are so warmed up here by the large concourse and the excitement of the occasion that we want to make things short, sharp, and decisive.

After the applause for Peter's opening remarks, a Christian missionary descendant and fervent member of the Hawaiian League, balding and bearded Lauren Thurston, reads out the resolutions crafted by the League's Committee of 13, which they intend to present to the King. He does so in a booming voice. That the administration of the Hawaiian government has ceased, through corruption and incompetence, adequately to perform the functions and afford the protection to personal and property rights for which all governments exist—

That while some of the evils of which we complain cannot be at once adequately redressed and their recurrence prevented, and many others are incurable except by radical changes in the present Constitution, yet there are some evils which we feel must be remedied at once before a permanent reform movement can be inaugurated with any reasonable prospect of success. To put that in layman's terms, things better change and fast.

They call for King Kalekawa to dissolve his cabinet, particularly to get rid of Walter Gibson, rage against the opium licenses, and decry his having any role in elections. Plus, there's one more catch: the King has 24 hours to meet with the League's appointed council and fix these problems. Otherwise, they will call another meeting. The mass gathering votes unanimously for the resolutions.

King Kalakaua is no fool. The Honolulu Rifles effectively control the city at this point, and he knows that if he doesn't acquiesce, it could mean civil war. He agrees to their demands. Thus, the League begins drafting a new constitution for the kingdom. One week later, July 6th, 1887, King Kalakaua signs the Bayonet Constitution. Yes, this is the constitution his sister, the future Queen Lili'uokalani, will seek to replace.

The document's name, again, reflects his signing it not out of agreement, but fear of war with the Hawaiian League's Honolulu Rifles. As Liliu will later recall, he signed that constitution under absolute compulsion. Details of the conspiracy have come to me since from sources upon which I can rely, which leads to the conviction that but for the repugnance or timidity of one of the executive committee, since risen very high in the councils of the so-called republic, he would have been assassinated.

While not so bold as to call for annexation of Hawaii into the U.S., the Bayonet Constitution completely restructures power on the islands. It excludes Asians from voting altogether. Otherwise, Hawaii's male suffrage will no longer be determined by citizenship, but by wealth. To vote, a man must own, to quote Article 59, "...taxable property in this country of the value of not less than $3,000 over and above all encumbrances."

This simultaneously strips many poor Native Hawaiians of the vote while enfranchising Hawaii's sugar planters, even if they're not Hawaiian citizens. This means that wealthy American and European foreigners, or haolei, as Native Hawaiians often call the island's white population, now have the vote and can run for office. The constitution also strengthens the powers of the cabinet and legislature, essentially relegating the monarch to a figurehead role. But these changes are not lost on Native Hawaiians.

Over the next few years, they'll push back until the island chain reaches the point of no return. It's a warm early morning, about 4:00 AM on Tuesday, July 30th, 1889. The tired, olive skinned, handlebar mustache wearing Robert Wilcox is marching at the head of 120 native Hawaiian and Asian men. Robert has every excuse to be tired.

He and his men have been up all night, making preparations and marching the two miles from Palama to the gates of Iolani Palace. Here, the group knocks and demands entry. After a bit of negotiating, they do so unopposed. As the alarm is raised throughout the city of the palatial siege, more Hawaiians join the throng of Robert's men on the grounds of Iolani Palace. This is the beginning of a coup. After all, Robert figures, if American and European businessmen can rewrite the constitution and alter the government, he can too.

Okay, a bit of background before we see how this goes. Obviously, many native Hawaiians, especially those with little financial means, were furious when King Kalakaua signed the Bayonet Constitution just over two years back. Knowing that peaceful methods of reclaiming their political rights and strengthening the monarchy are few in number and likely to be ineffective, they're turning to more drastic measures.

These royalists figure that if they can replace Kalakaua with his sister, our friend from the episode's opening, Liliuokalani, then she can tell the wealthy foreign sugar planters to step off and restore the rights of Native Hawaiians. Robert Wilcox is at the head of this effort, the son of an American father and Native Hawaiian mother. Robert has just returned from Italy where he attended a military school as part of a program instituted by King Kalakaua to educate Hawaiian youth outside of Hawaii.

But ironically, the rise of the Bayonet Constitution and end of this education program convinced Robert that Hawaii needs a stronger leader, the King's sister, Liliu. Last year, he contemplated a rebellion against the Hawaiian League and Honolulu Rifles to effect this change, but that plan, the Wilcox Rebellion of 1888, was thwarted just days before it was to be carried out. Robert was exiled from the islands, but you know the saying, you can't keep a good man down.

Robert and his handlebar mustache recently returned to the island to lead today's rebellion. That brings us to today's second attempt, the Wilcox Rebellion of 1889. This coup isn't going as the royalists hoped. First, they aren't going to find the king. Tipped off about the potential coup, His Majesty spent the night on his boathouse. Beyond that, Robert Wilcox and his men can't get past Lieutenant Robert Parker's palace guards.

Both Roberts respect each other. Both are half-native Hawaiian. Both have mustaches. But Robert Parker refuses to surrender the palace, leaving the royalists to seek other positions on the grounds. They soon occupy a two-story building known as the Bungalow. Meanwhile, opposing sharpshooters take positions on the roof of the nearby opera house and the Honolulu Rifles rush to the scene. By 11:00 AM, the two sides are exchanging fire.

As bullets fly and the hours pass, the revolution, or counter-revolution, is failing. At some point, Robert Wilcox and 30 of his men are forced to surrender. And then comes the powder bombs, aka dynamite. The explosion kills six royalists. A white flag rises over the bungalow. It's over. Seven royalists are dead. Another 20 or so are wounded. On the other side, Palace Guard Lieutenant Robert Parker is wounded.

By 7:00 p.m., Robert Wilcox and his remaining men have all been captured. They're soon locked up at the police station. This attempt to reverse the Bayonet Constitution, restore the voting rights of most Native Hawaiians, and renew the power of the throne has failed. Robert stands trial for his leadership in this event, dubbed the Wilcox Rebellion of 1889. He's charged with conspiracy. The jury of Native Hawaiians find him not guilty.

Considering how obvious his role was, I'd say that sends a strong message of how they feel about the Bayonet Constitution. And while the Wilcox Rebellion of 1889 may have failed to get rid of it, one of its other goals soon comes about. When King Kalakaua dies in early 1891, his strong-willed, intelligent sister, Lili'uokalani, ascends to the throne. She faces a significant challenge. The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 has struck a hard blow to Hawaii's heavily sugar-based economy.

We talked about this tariff in episode 98, so let's jump to our only reason for discussing it today. The act removes tariffs on foreign sugar while subsidizing its domestic production. Ah, let's recall that a reciprocity treaty between the U.S. and Hawaii already granted the island nation duty-free privileges when exporting this sweet substance. Hawaii even handed the U.S. a lease on Pearl Harbor for use as a naval coaling station in 1887 to keep this deal going.

But if the whole world can now sell sugar duty-free in the U.S., that's a meaningless treaty. The McKinley tariff isn't only hurting Hawaii's rich, often non-citizen sugar planters either. It's devastating the Hawaiian government's revenue. What can Lili'u do about this? Well, her hands are quite tied. What can the Hawaiian government do? Some are talking about instituting a lottery, as well as regulating and taxing opium imports.

But Hawaii's rich white sugar planters also tend to be pious Christians who oppose lotteries and opium use. So they loathe this idea. To this crowd, whose numbers in the Hawaiian League are strong, the answer is to get in on the United States' new domestic sugar subsidy through annexation. Thus, they soon found the Annexation Club.

As we enter January 1893, with lottery and opium bills winding their way through the legislature, with a determined queen seeking to kill the bayonet constitution to restore the power of her throne and the rights of her less affluent native subjects, a balding, bearded member of the annexation club moves to outmaneuver her. And as we know, that man is Lauren Thurston. We know what happens between January 14th and 17th, 1893.

Queen Lili'uokalani's cabinet blocks her attempt to get rid of the bayonet constitution. Lauren Thurston rallies the annexation club. They form the Committee of Safety. U.S. Minister to the Hawaiian Kingdom John L. Stevens agrees to provide troops, and with that support, a provisional government demands Queen Lili'u abdicate her throne. She responds with a brilliantly penned acknowledgement of her situation, calling for USA to restore her rule. So what will the U.S. do?

It's now time to drop the other shoe. Loren didn't just spring into action on January 14th. He was more methodical, more long-term in his approach than that. See, the year before, 1892, the annexation club sent Loren to Washington, D.C.,

There, he met with a number of high-ranking officials, including then Secretary of State James G. Blaine. The balding, bearded Hawaiian subject of American descent did not meet with President Benjamin Harrison, but Lauren Claims, Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin F. Tracy told him, "...the President does not think he should see you, but he authorizes me to say to you that if conditions in Hawaii compel you people to act as you have indicated..."

and you come to Washington with an annexation proposition, you will find an exceedingly sympathetic administration here. Close quote. Damn. In other words, Lauren acted in January already knowing the president of the United States would support annexation.

But then again, the bearded Republican is in the final months of his lame duck administration. Indeed, as we learned in episode 98, Ben's about to hand the keys of the White House over to the very man whom he ousted from it four years earlier, the portly, walrus, mustachioed Democrat, Grover Cleveland. It's a chilly winter's day, December 4th, 1893, in Washington, D.C. Grover Cleveland sits at his desk, glowering at the papers before him.

Grover, or Grover the Good as he's known, is wrapping up the first year of his second presidential term. And things are rough. There's the nationwide financial panic of 1893, the constant challenges from business-minded Republicans, and even his own party is fractured over the gold-silver issue. Yeah, Grover might be firmly planted at his desk, but his mind is running through all sorts of problems. And those include what the press is calling the Hawaii issue.

Now, Grover wasn't a fan of annexation to begin with. One of the first things the president and his crew did upon returning to the White House was withdraw the annexation treaty the Harrison administration had placed before the Senate. Grover further upped the ante by sending recently retired Georgia Congressman James Blunt to investigate the overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani. Grover became even more opposed to annexation after James submitted his report, and he's expressing that opposition fervently in today's annual message to Congress.

Now, presidents write these messages as letters rather than deliver them as speeches in this era, but the words hit just as powerfully. Grover Cleveland calls the relationship between the US and Hawaii a "serious embarrassment." He also describes James Blunt's report as, quote,

showing beyond all question that the constitutional government of Hawaii has been subverted with the active aid of our representative to that government and through the intimidation caused by the presence of an armed naval force of the United States, which was landed for that purpose at the instance of our minister.

Upon the facts developed, it seemed to me the only honorable course for our government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention. Close quote. Wow. Grover is clearly not aligned with Lauren Thurston and the annexation club, and he takes heat for it.

Pennsylvania newspaper, the Franklin Repository, soon declares, quote, there can be no other course but impeachment left after the declaration of Grover Cleveland with regard to Hawaii. Close quote. Out in Kansas, the Weekly Eagle puts the issue simply, quote, Hawaii is hot. An attempt to restore Lilly will prove disastrous. The first shot that is fired will kill Cleveland politically. Close quote. Impeachment? Political death?

These are sharp words. Well, damn the consequences. Grover the Good is seeking answers. Right this minute, he has former Kentucky Congressman Albert S. Willis in Hawaii discussing the situation with the out-of-power queen, Lili'uokalani. Albert asks what she will do to those who took her throne. Will they be pardoned? Initially, she says no. They're traitors. In a miscommunication or misunderstanding, Albert believes she intends to behead them.

That muddies the waters as the Cleveland administration isn't sure what obligation it has to her usurpers, whose nationality seems to be either Hawaiian or American depending on whichever serves them best at the moment. By December 18th, Liliu gets a bit more realpolitik and decides she can be open to amnesty if that will spur Grover Cleveland to restore her kingdom. But it just might be too late for executive action.

Uncertain of whether to restore Lili'u to the throne or the right way to use his executive powers, Grover sends a message to Congress that very same day stating that the late difficulties in Hawaii "should be referred to the broader authority and discretion of Congress." But he's not entirely handing the ball to Congress. The president states clearly that annexation isn't happening under his watch.

He writes, "I shall not again submit the Treaty of Annexation to the Senate for its consideration." He then goes on to vent his anger and dismay. "In the present instance, our duty does not, in my opinion, end with refusing to consummate this questionable transaction. It has been the boast of our government that it seeks to do justice in all things without regard to the strength or weakness of those with whom it deals.

I mistake the American people if they favor the odious doctrine that there is no such thing as international morality, that there is one law for a strong nation and another for a weak one, and that even by indirection a strong power may with impunity despoil a weak one of its territory.

by an act of war committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the united states and without authority of congress the government of a feeble but friendly and confiding people has been overthrown a substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair

The provisional government has not assumed a republican or other constitutional form, but has remained a mere executive council or oligarchy, set up without the assent of the people. A man of true honor protects the unwritten word which binds his conscience more scrupulously, if possible, than he does the bond, a breach of which subjects him to legal liabilities.

And the United States, in aiming to maintain itself as one of the most enlightened of nations, would do its citizens gross injustice if it applied to its international relations any other than a high standard of honor and morality.

On that ground, the United States cannot properly be put in the position of countenancing a wrong after its commission any more than in that of consenting to it in advance. If a feeble but friendly state is in danger of being robbed of its independence and its sovereignty by a misuse of the name and power of the United States, the United States cannot fail to vindicate its honor and its sense of justice by an earnest effort to make all possible reparation.

For Grover, the Hawaii issue isn't about sugar planters or opium deals. It isn't about strongholds in the Pacific or preventing other empires from expanding. This is a question of right or wrong. And for him, the U.S. has done wrong. But what about Congress? It receives the president's strong letter, but comes to a deadlock as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Tyler Morgan, produces a report on Hawaii that counters the blunt report.

By the time of the president's next annual message, December 3rd, 1894, Grover essentially has to acknowledge that he's lost the battle with Congress. The U.S. now officially recognizes the provisional government in Hawaii. The month following Grover's second annual message, January 1895, Robert Wilcox, the Hawaiian we met earlier who led a royalist revolt to overthrow the Bayonet Constitution, leads another rebellion, this time against Hawaii's provisional government.

It fails and Queen Liliu is imprisoned in her own home by a military tribunal of the Republic of Hawaii. With promises that her supporters will not be executed, she agrees to abdicate her throne. And so, the last sovereign monarch of Hawaii has fallen. President Grover Cleveland and anti-imperialists managed to hold off the annexation question through the end of his second term in 1897. But leaders of Hawaii's new regime are eager to try their luck with incoming President William McKinley.

Their cases aided in this age of imperialism by the aspirations of other empires licking their lips, eager to snatch up this strategically well-positioned chain of Pacific islands. Yes, Americans shudder at the thought of the ascendant empires of Japan or Germany laying claim to Hawaii. And as the Spanish-American War rages in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, by God, Pearl Harbor's importance has never been more apparent.

Consequently, on July 7th, 1898, exactly one week after Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charged Kettle Hill in Cuba's San Juan Heights, William McKinley signs Congress's New Lands Resolution. It declares...

Whereas the government of the Republic of Hawaii, having in due form signified its consent in the manner provided by its Constitution to cede absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies,

Therefore, resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that said session is accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and that the said Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies be, and they are hereby, annexed as a part of the territory of the United States, and are subject to the sovereign dominion thereof, and that all in singular the property and rights herein before mentioned are vested in the United States of America.

Thus, before the short-lived Spanish-American War concludes and formally hands the United States a few former Spanish colonies, the U.S. has officially annexed Hawaii. Despite the protestations of more than half the total native population, the ceremony happens the following month at Iolani Palace. It's a warm, partly cloudy summer's day, about 12 noon, Friday, August 12, 1898.

thousands have gathered at Iolani Palace, or the Executive Building as it's now called in Honolulu. For many of the American sailors and soldiers in attendance, it's a moment of glory. For the native Hawaiians in attendance, it's a solemn tragedy. Today, the Hawaiian flag will be lowered and replaced with the stars and stripes.

With American troops and Hawaiian guards lining the way up to the platform, President Sanford Dole, other Republic of Hawaii leaders, and several U.S. officials take their places. Reverend G.L. Pearson starts the ceremony with a prayer. The mustachioed U.S. Minister Harold Sewell then reads Congress's joint resolution annexing the islands. After this, the burly-bearded President of Hawaii, Sanford Dole, addresses the crowd.

He bellows out, a treaty of political union having been made and the session formally consented to by the Republic of Hawaii having been accepted by the United States of America. I now in the interest of the Hawaiian body politic and with full confidence in the honor, justice and friendship of the American people,

yield up to you as the representative of the government of the United States, the sovereignty and public property of the Hawaiian Islands. A Hawaiian band strikes up the former kingdom's national anthem, Hawaii Pono'i. A shore battery fires a 21-gun salute. Tears flow as the red, white, and blue flag of the once sovereign island nation descends and Hawaii Pono'i ends. The process is then essentially reversed.

A band from the American ship, the Philadelphia, plays the Star-Spangled Banner as another 21-gun salute fires and that anthem's namesake rises before the executive building, formerly known as Iolani Palace. The U.S. minister briefly addresses the crowd. Sanford Dole and his cabinet take the oath of office. The ceremony then adjourns. With tear-soaked faces, Hawaiians solemnly return home, knowing the kingdom is no more. So we end this episode as we began it.

by saying aloha to the Hawaiian kingdom, as the islands are now officially U.S. soil. And as we know from the last episode, it won't be long before the end of the Spanish-American War brings the United States a number of other overseas territories. But one of those territories is particularly unwilling to acquiesce to being transferred from Spanish to U.S. control. Well, I say one, but I'm referring to some 7,000 islands in the waters of Southeast Asia.

That's right. Next time, our tale is yet another war. The Philippine-American War.

David Riffkin

Mark Ellis, Mark Price,

Matthew Mitchell, Matthew Simmons, Melanie Jam, Nick Sekinder, Noah Hoff, Paul Goeringer, Rick Brown, Sarah Trawick, S.B. Wade, Sean Pepper, Sharon Thiesen, Sean Baines, Creepy Girl, Tisha Black, and Zach Jackson. Join me in two weeks, where I'd like to tell you a story.