Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen
INTRODUCTION: Queen Liliuokalani
(1838–1917) was the final reigning monarch
of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Among other
things, Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen
features a personal account of her final
days on the throne before a group of sugar
planters, backed by pro-American forces,
led a coup to remove her from power. The
excerpt here is from Lili’uokalani’s official
protest to a treaty signed on January 17,
1893, ceding powers to the United States.
Hoping that President Grover Cleveland or
his successor would be sympathetic to her
cause, Lili’uokalani explains why the treaty is unconstitutional and appeals for
help from the United States government. In 1898, shortly after President
Cleveland left office, Hawaii was formally annexed as a territory of the United
States.
CHAPTER LV MY OFFICIAL PROTEST TO THE TREATY I, LILIUOKALANI of Hawaii, by
the will of God named heir apparent on the tenth day of April, A. D. 1877, and by the
grace of God Queen of the Hawaiian Islands on the seventeenth day of January, A. D.
1893, do hereby protest against the ratification of a certain treaty, which, so I am
informed, has been signed at Washington by Messrs. Hatch, Thurston, and Kinney,
purporting to cede those Islands to the territory and dominion of the United States. I
declare such a treaty to be an act of wrong toward the native and part-native people of
Hawaii, an invasion of the rights of the ruling chiefs, in violation of international rights
both toward my people and toward friendly nations with whom they have made
treaties, the perpetuation of the fraud whereby the constitutional government was
overthrown and, finally, an act of gross injustice to me. Because the official protests
made by me on the seventeenth day of January, 1893, to the so-called Provisional
Government was signed by me, and received by said government with the assurance
that the case was referred to the United States of America for arbitration.
YIELDED TO AVOID BLOODSHED. Because that protest and my communications to the
United States Government immediately thereafter expressly declare that I yielded my
authority to the forces of the United States in order to avoid bloodshed, and because I
recognized the futility of a conflict with so formidable a power. Because the President
of the United States, the Secretary of State, and an envoy commissioned by them
reported in official documents that my government was unlawfully coerced by the
forces, diplomatic and naval, of the United States; that I was at the date of their
investigations the constitutional ruler of my people. Because such decision of the
recognized magistrates of the United States was officially communicated to me and to
Sanford B. Dole, and said Dole's resignation requested by Albert S. Willis, the
recognized agent and minister of the Government of the United States. Because neither
the above-named commission nor the government which sends it has ever received any
such authority from the registered voters of Hawaii, but derives its assumed powers
from the so-called committee of public safety, organized on or about the seventeenth
day of January, 1893, said committee being composed largely of persons claiming
American citizenship, and not one single Hawaiian was a member thereof, or in any
way participated in the demonstration leading to its existence. Because my people,
about forty thousand in number, have in no way been consulted by those, three
thousand in number, who claim the right to destroy the independence of Hawaii. My
people constitute four-fifths of the legally qualified voters of Hawaii, and excluding
those imported for the demands of labor, about the same proportion of the inhabitants.
CIVIC AND
HEREDITARY RIGHTS. Because said treaty ignores, not only the civic rights of my
people, but, further, the hereditary property of their chiefs. Of the 4,000,000 acres
composing the territory said treaty offers to annex, 1,000,000 or 915,000 acres has in no
way been heretofore recognized as other than the private property of the
constitutional monarch, subject to a control in no way differing from other items of a
private estate. Because it is proposed by said treaty to confiscate said property,
technically called the crown lands, those legally entitled thereto, either now or in
succession, receiving no consideration whatever for estates, their title to which has
been always undisputed, and which is legitimately in my name at this date. Because
said treaty ignores, not only all professions of perpetual amity and good faith made by
the United States in former treaties with the sovereigns representing the Hawaiian
people, but all treaties made by those sovereigns with other and friendly powers, and it
is thereby in violation of international law. Because, by treating with the parties
claiming at this time the right to cede said territory of Hawaii, the Government of the
United States receives such territory from the hands of those whom its own
magistrates (legally elected by the people of the United States, and in office in 1893)
pronounced fraudulently in power and unconstitutionally ruling Hawaii.
APPEALS TO PRESIDENT AND SENATE. Therefore I, Liliuokalani of Hawaii, do hereby
call upon the President of that nation, to whom alone I yielded my property and my
authority, to withdraw said treaty (ceding said Islands) from further consideration. I
ask the honorable Senate of the United States to decline to ratify said treaty, and I
implore the people of this great and good nation, from whom my ancestors learned the
Christian religion, to sustain their representatives in such acts of justice and equity as
may be in accord with the principles of their fathers, and to the Almighty Ruler of the
universe, to him who judgeth righteously, I commit my cause. Done at Washington,
District of Columbia, United States of America, this seventeenth day of June, in the year
eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
LILIUOKALANI.
JOSEPH HELELUHE.
WOKEKI HELELUHE }Witnesses to Signature.
JULIUS A. PALMER.
In the matter of providing me with seats in the diplomatic gallery at the ceremonies of
the inauguration, I have already expressed my gratitude to Secretary John Sherman. It
is but just that I should repeat here my appreciation of the kind, gallant, and courteous
treatment again received at his official hands. For although it was my directions that
this document should be delivered to any person authorized to receive it, yet as soon as
Secretary Sherman saw the cards of my commissioners, he at once accorded them a
private audience.
My protest, and a like remonstrance made on behalf of the patriotic leagues of the
Hawaiian people by Hon. Joseph Heleluhe as their authorized commissioner, were both
placed in the secretary's hands by that gentleman; and Mr. Sherman read them both
through. He then turned to Captain Palmer, and had an agreeable conversation on the
points at issue, after which my commissioners retired. The accustomed tissue of
falsehoods was woven about this interview; some stating that Secretary Sherman had
refused to see my messengers, others again giving the names of some one or other of
his subordinates with whom my commissioners had had an interview, and finally
asserting that the protests went into the archives of the department without
examination, and were pigeon-holed; all of which statements, it is needless to say, were
untrue. Secretary Sherman by his action showed that, a skilled diplomatist, he had not
forgotten to remain a gallant gentleman.
Write a Summary of the article:
Queen Liliuokalani did not want Hawaii to be a state of the US. She wanted to keep her people's
culture on the island they lived on. But sadly she was forced by the US to give up her territory and
make it a US state. What the queen wanted was a treaty and to have the US not fight them or take
her land by force so she gives up her land voluntarily to not have a war or conflict happen.
Think Questions:
It is the United States government that she is addressing this
1. Who is the audience of Queen
protest to in hopes of getting Hawaii back for her people. She
Liliuokalani’s official protest? Why does
she appeal to these people, in spite of is very smart and has a lot to say on this issue which makes
their possible role in the overthrow of people stop to consider her points for a second or two, which
her government? Explain, citing is what the people of the US see in her. "He then turned to
evidence from the text. Captain Palmer and had an agreeable conversation on the
points at issue, after which my commissioners retired.
(Paragraph 6)"
She turned over her authority to them so no one would get
2. Why did Queen Liliuokalani immediately
yield her authority to the forces of the hurt. She knew how big the United States army was and knew
United States? What does this tell you how small her army was and just decided to avoid the loss of
about the kind of ruler she was? Cite innocent people. " Because that protest and my
specific examples of this to support your communications to the United States Government
response. immediately thereafter expressly declare that I yielded my
authority to the forces of the United States in order to avoid
bloodshed and because I recognized the futility of a conflict
with so formidable a power. (Paragraph 2)"
3. Why does Liliuokalani believe that the She believes that it is unfair since their land is being taken
1893 treaty was unlawful? Explain, in from them when they were born there and have a right to
your own words, why she sees the treaty the property that was there before the United States took it.
as a violation of her people’s civic and " Because it is proposed by said treaty to confiscate said
hereditary rights.
property, technically called the crown lands, those legally
entitled thereto, either now or in succession, receiving no
consideration whatever for estates, their title to which has
been always undisputed, and which is legitimately in my
name at this date. (Paragraph 3)"
Writing Prompt:
Queen Liliuokalani yielded to the formidable power of the United States, believing that it was
in the best interests of her and her people. However, later history shows that her efforts to
resist U.S. control were ultimately futile. Did she take the right approach? In an editorial
response, argue whether yielding power to avoid bloodshed was the right course of action.
Use evidence from the text wherever necessary for support.
CA-CCSS: CA.RI.11-12.1CA.W.11-12.1
I believe she was in the right not to start a war. She did not have nearly as much of an army as the United States
had which would have caused her to lose her land with lots of death. She defiantly was in the right to not have
people get hurt and have a calm transfer of power even if it is not what her people or herself wanted. "Because that
protest and my communications to the United States Government immediately thereafter expressly declare that I
yielded my authority to the forces of the United States in order to avoid bloodshed and because I recognized the
futility of a conflict with so formidable a power. (Paragraph 2)"
