Hawaiian Sovereignty

     
  In the early 1880s, The Missionary Party, led by Lorrin Thurston, the grandson of one of the first missionaries in Hawai`i, and Sanford Dole, also the son of a missionary, began what turned out to be an unsuccessful campaign to discredit and dethrone King David Kalākaua.

In 1887, they formed a secret society, the Hawaiian League, of Anglo-Saxon planters and businessmen, motivated by greed and racial discrimination, and armed themselves in order to protect their interests and bring military pressure against the King. Finally, in November of that year, they forced King Kalākaua to sign what has become known as The "Bayonet" Constitution, establishing a provisional government controlled by The Missionary Party, restricting voting rights to property owners, abolishing the Hawaiian Navy, and stripping Kalākaua of power.

In January of 1891, Kalākaua died of a stroke and Bright’s Disease while visiting San Francisco, and his sister, Lydia Kamakaeha Lili`uokalani, became Queen. Over the next two years, she would be in constant conflict with the new provisional government, now focused on achieving annexation of Hawai`i.

On January 17, 1893, Stanford Dole and his armed “Committee of Safety”, with the assistance of the American Navy, marched on `Iolani Palace and forced Queen Lili`uokalani to abdicate under protest.

"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."

Control of Hawai`i was formally transferred to the United States at ceremonies on August 12, 1898. And Sanford Dole was appointed governor of the newly formed Territory of Hawai`i.

In December of 1898, ex-President Cleveland writes: "Hawai`i is ours. As I look back upon the first steps in this miserable business, and as I contemplate the means used to complete the outrage, I am ashamed of the whole affair."

In January 1959, a Statehood Bill was introduced in Congress, and was finally passed on March 12th. On June 27th, the people of Hawai`i. Of the 240 electoral precincts, only one rejected statehood, the island of Ni`ihau, populated exclusively by Native Hawaiians. And the rest of the population voted for statehood by a 17 to 1 margin.

On August 21st, 1959, President Eisenhower declared that "the procedural requirements imposed by the Congress on the state of Hawai`i ... have been complied with ... and that admission of state of Hawai`i into the Union ... is now accomplished."

In 1988, 95 years after the overthrow of the Sovereign Nation of Hawai`i, a study by the United States Justice Department concluded that Congress did not have the authority to annex Hawai`i by joint resolution.

On November 23, 1993, President Clinton signed United States Public Law 103-150, which not only acknowledged the illegal actions committed by the United States in the overthrow of the legitimate government of Hawai`i, but also that the Hawaiian people never surrendered their sovereignty.

In 1999, the United Nations confirmed that the vote that led to Hawaii's statehood was in violation of article 73 of the United Nations' charter, and therefore was illegal and non-binding.

 
     
 

Halihali mai ‘oe i ka po‘e lahui Hawai‘i. Ka ala nui Ea like me ke ka‘awila. Imua a i hope. Ma lela no hana like kakou, a‘ole hakaka, a‘ole hukihuki, ALU LIKE.

People of Hawai'i lets get together. The road to Sovereignty is like the Spokes of a Wheel. Go forward or back. The way to work is together. Don't fight or argue, COME TOGETHER.

 
     
  Books of interest:  
     
 

Broken Trust, by King and Roth
Ua Mau Ke Ea by David Keanu Sai
Hawai`i's Story by Hawai`i's Queen, by Lili`uokalani  (click here to read online)
Hawaiian Sovereignty, Do the Facts Matter? by Twigg-Smith
Nation Within, by Coffman
Native Land and Foreign Desires, Bishop Museum Press
On Being Hawaiian by John Holt
Shoal of Time, by Daws
The Hawaiian Kingdom, by Kuykendall, University of Hawai`i Press
The Hawaiian Revolution and The Hawaiian Republic, by Russ Jr.
To Steal a Kingdom, by Dougherty
Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai`i, University of Hawai`i Press

 
     
  For more information:  
     
 

American Spies and Traitors

Footholds in the Pacific

Hawai`i Nation Org

Hawaiian Kingdom Org

Hawaiian Royalty

Hookele Non-Hawaiians

Instant Hawai`i

Kaho`olawe Org

Maui Culture

Native Hawaiian Sovereignty

The Nation: Famous Are The Flowers

Wikipedia

 
             
             
   
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