Title: Hawaii’s Monarchy Overthrown With U.S. Support, 120 Years Ago - HISTORY
Headings: Hawaii’s Monarchy Overthrown With U.S. Support, 120 Years Ago
Hawaii’s Monarchy Overthrown With U.S. Support, 120 Years Ago
Sugar barons and businessmen overthrew Hawaii’s longstanding monarchy 120 years ago, setting the stage for U.S. annexation.

Content: Kalakaua, meanwhile, drove the kingdom and himself deep into debt with such expenditures as the construction of a new palace. Nicknamed the “Merrie Monarch,” he once allegedly accepted $155,000 in bribes from two Chinese businessmen seeking an opium license. Kalakaua’s sister, Liliuokalani, took the throne upon his death in 1891 and soon began working on a replacement to the Bayonet Constitution that would restore the monarch’s power and give only Hawaiian subjects the right to vote. After failing to get her new constitution through the legislature, Liliuokalani planned to enact it by royal fiat on January 14, 1893. Although she ended up deferring action on the advice of her handpicked cabinet, 13 men of American, British and German descent became so concerned about their future business and political prospects that they met at a Honolulu law office and arranged to depose her. Having gotten word of the plot, Liliuokalani’s marshal asked the cabinet to authorize a warrant for the arrest of the 13 men, only to be turned down. The queen and her cabinet ministers then released a statement assuring that “any changes desired in the fundamental law of the land will be sought only by methods provided in the Constitution itself.” Far from placated, the conspirators gathered on January 16 with about 1,000 supporters, including many members of a recently disbanded all-white militia known as the Honolulu Rifles. In on the conspiracy was John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, who ordered a nearby naval ship to land troops in Honolulu, ostensibly to secure the safety of American life and property. Around 5 p.m., Liliuokalani watched as over 120 marines and sailors marched past her palace with a rapid-fire Gatling gun and set up camp a few hundred yards away.