The 1893 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom

On January 17, 1893, a small group of American businessmen and lawyers, backed by 162 U.S. Marines who had landed without authorization from Washington, overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani and ended the Hawaiian monarchy. The Kingdom of Hawaii had been a recognized sovereign nation for nearly a century, with its own constitution, courts, foreign embassies, and internationally recognized flag. In the space of a single afternoon it ceased to exist. The U.S. Congress later acknowledged, in the 1993 Apology Resolution, that this was illegal. The question of what comes next has not been settled.

What happened in 1893

On January 14, 1893, a self-declared Committee of Safety was formed, composed of 13 members: nine American citizens (mostly businessmen connected to the sugar industry), two British subjects, one German citizen, and one Hawaiian subject of American descent. On January 16, U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens, acting without authorization from Washington, ordered 162 U.S. Marines and sailors from the USS Boston to land in Honolulu. They positioned themselves near ʻIolani Palace and government buildings, ostensibly to protect American lives and property but effectively providing military backing for the Committee.

On January 17, the Committee proclaimed a provisional government and demanded the queen's surrender. Queen Liliʻuokalani, facing the armed force of the United States military and wishing to avoid bloodshed, yielded her authority under protest. She surrendered not to the provisional government but to the United States, expecting that the U.S. government would investigate and restore her throne. Her official statement reads: "I yield to the superior force of the United States of America." The Kingdom of Hawaii, which had existed as a sovereign nation with international treaties, embassies, and recognition since 1795, ceased to exist.

Why it happened

The overthrow was driven primarily by economic interests tied to the sugar industry and a desire for U.S. annexation. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 had allowed Hawaiian sugar to enter the U.S. duty-free, making American planters in Hawaii enormously wealthy. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 eliminated that advantage by allowing all foreign sugar into the U.S. duty-free, while giving domestic U.S. sugar a subsidy. Hawaiian sugar profits collapsed overnight. Annexation to the United States would restore the subsidy, making annexation economically essential to the plantation owners.

Queen Liliʻuokalani's efforts to strengthen Native Hawaiian political power made her a target. She proposed a new constitution that would restore voting rights to Native Hawaiians and Asians (who had been disenfranchised by the 1887 "Bayonet Constitution" forced on her brother King Kalākaua) and increase the monarch's authority. American business leaders saw this as a direct threat to their political and economic control. The Committee of Safety formed specifically to prevent the new constitution and depose the queen.

Annexation and aftermath

President Grover Cleveland, after investigating, condemned the overthrow as illegal and called for the queen's restoration. He sent a report to Congress stating that "the military demonstration upon the soil of Honolulu was of itself an act of war" and that the provisional government would not have come to power "but for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts." However, the provisional government, led by Sanford Dole, refused to step down, and Congress took no action to restore the monarchy.

The United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 through a joint resolution of Congress (the Newlands Resolution), not by treaty. A treaty would have required approval by two-thirds of the Senate and consent from the Hawaiian government. The joint resolution required only a simple majority in both houses and bypassed Hawaiian consent entirely. Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900 under the Organic Act. Hawaii would not become a state until 1959, covered on our page about Hawaii statehood. The loss of the kingdom had lasting effects on Native Hawaiian land access (much was taken for military use or redistributed), language suppression (Hawaiian-language education was banned in 1896), and self-governance (Native Hawaiians lost control of their own political institutions).

The 1993 Apology Resolution

A century later, in 1993, the U.S. Congress passed the Apology Resolution (Public Law 103-150), signed by President Clinton. It acknowledged that the overthrow was illegal and that the Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their sovereignty. This history informs today's conversations, which is part of why respectful travel matters so much in Hawaii.