announcement of a new constitution. After the ministers' refusal to sign the new constitution, the queen stepped out onto the balcony asking the assembled people to return home, declaring "their wishes for a new constitution could not be granted just then, but will be some future day". The political fallout of the queen's actions led to citywide political rallies and meetings in Honolulu. Anti-monarchists, annexationists, and leading Reformist politicians including Lorrin A. Thurston formed the Committee of Safety in protest of the "revolutionary" action of the queen and conspired to depose her. In response, royalists and loyalists formed the Committee of Law and Order and met at the palace square on January16. Nāwahī, White, Bush, Wilcox, and Antone Rosa and other pro-monarchist leaders gave speeches in support for the queen and the government. However, in their attempts to be cautious and not provoke the opposition, they adopted a resolution stating that "the Government does not and will not seek any modification of the Constitution by any other means than those provided in the organic law". Opposing the overthrow and annexation These actions and the radicalized political climate eventually led to the overthrow of the monarchy, on January17, 1893, by the Committee of Safety, with the covert support of United States Minister John L. Stevens and the landing of American forces from the USS Boston. After a brief transition under the Provisional Government, the oligarchical Republic of Hawaii was established on July4, 1894, with missionary descendant Sanford B. Dole as president. During this period, the defacto government, which was composed largely of residents of American and European ancestry, sought to annex the islands to the United States against the wishes of the Native Hawaiians who wanted to remain an independent nation ruled by the monarchy. On March 4, 1893, Nāwahī became a founding member of Hui Aloha ʻĀina oNa Kane (Hawaiian Patriotic League for Men), a patriotic group founded shortly after the overthrow of the monarchy to oppose annexation and support the deposed queen. Nāwahī was elected President of the League later that year. The ranks of the group were largely composed of the leading native politicians of the former monarchy. A delegation was elected by its members to represent the case of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow. A corresponding female league, the