The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 by a small group of businessmen is arguably the most pivotal moment in Hawai'i's history.The loss of sovereignty and the ruling authority of Queen Lili'uokalani is still keenly felt by Native Hawaiians more than 100 years later.
In 1887, a secretive group that called itself the Hawaiian League vowed to create "decent and honest government in Hawai'i."
Its members, all businessmen and planters with U.S. or missionary ties, pledged their lives, property and "sacred honor" toward this goal. They memorized a constitution written by their leader, Lorrin Thurston, then destroyed the written version. They also swore to keep their organization a secret.
Many league members belonged to the Honolulu Rifles, a volunteer militia for the kingdom that was run by the league.
The league, whose ranks grew to roughly 400 people, was instrumental in forcing King Kalakaua to sign the "Bayonet Constitution," which stripped the monarchy of all meaningful power in 1877.
By 1892, Thurston had formed his core supporters into the Annexation Club, which plotted the overthrow of Lili'uokalani.
When the queen proposed a new constitution in January 1893, the annexationists saw an opportunity. With a nod to the French Revolution, they renamed themselves the Committee of Safety and persuaded U.S. diplomat John Stevens to land American troops on Jan. 16, 1893.
"She wants us to sleep on a slumbering volcano which will one morning spew out blood and destroy us all," Thurston told supporters who had gathered at the Honolulu armory that day.
That afternoon, four boatloads of Marines and bluejackets — 162 in all — came ashore from the USS Boston, docked in Honolulu Harbor, and marched through the streets and past the queen's palace. They brought Gatling guns and 14,000 rounds of ammunition, cannons and a hospital unit.
Lili'uokalani was convinced that resistance would cost many lives. At dusk the next day, Jan. 17, 1893, she surrendered under protest to the new provisional government.
In her surrender statement, Lili'uokalani yielded under the belief that the U.S. government would hear the circumstances of the overthrow and reinstate her authority "as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands."
It would never happen. Five years later, Thurston and his supporters secured annexation, and Hawai'i became U.S. territory.
