The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy by white businessmen in 1893 failed to immediately secure the annexation by the United States they so eagerly sought.
Their resolve remained strong, however, despite the conclusion by U.S. President Grover Cleveland that the overthrow was an "act of war."
Their hopes were buoyed by the election of U.S. President William McKinley in November 1896.
By the next June, they succeeded in getting U.S. Secretary of State John Sherman to sign an annexation treaty, but it still required approval by a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate.
On Sept. 6, 1897, thousands of Native Hawaiians rallied at Palace Square to hear a rousing speech by James Kaulia, president of the Hawaiian Patriotic League. To agree to the annexation, he told the crowd, would be to agree to being buried alive. Annexation, he said, would open the door to foreigners who would take away jobs.
"Let us take up the honorable struggle," Kaulia said. "Do not be afraid. Be steadfast in aloha for your land and be united in thought. Protest forever the annexation of Hawai'i until the very last patriot lives."
The league and the Hawaiian Political Party then began a two-month, island-by-island petition drive in support of their deposed monarch, Lili'uokalani. When they were finished, 21,269 Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian Islanders had signed the petitions.
The petition, which was taken to Washington, helped defeat the annexation treaty in the Senate.
That only riled the annexationists more. They joined forces with Nevada Rep. Francis Newlands in May 1898 on a new approach: a joint resolution of Congress. This time, they were successful.
President McKinley signed the resolution on July 7, 1898, but it took a week for the news to reach Hawai'i. On the morning of Aug. 12, 1898, troops from the warship USS Philadelphia came ashore for the ceremony at 'Iolani Palace.
It was a bitter day for Lili'uokalani, who refused to attend the ceremony and remained at Washington Place, surrounded by family, nobles and other loyalists.
To the strains of "Hawai'i Pono'i" the national anthem that later became the state song, the Hawaiian flag was lowered, and as the strains of "The Star-Spangled Banner" filled the air, the U.S. flag was raised. It was said that nightfall on the day of annexation brought a wail of sorrow from Hawaiians that could be heard throughout Honolulu.
