Hawaiian History Month: The Republic of Hawaii

Ka Lepupalika o Hawaiʻi (The Republic of Hawaii) lasted from July 4, 1894, to August 12, 1898. This one-party state was controlled by a small group of men, mostly Hawaiʻi-born descendants of American settlers. The men maintained financial, political, and family ties to the United States. Supporters and opponents published documents about the Republic and annexation as well as the prior overthrow, provisional government, and treaties with the United States.

The Lyman Museum preserves a small group of published materials related to the governments that followed the Hawaiian Kingdom. To learn more, the Archives is open for research by appointment: https://lymanmuseum.org/archives/.

Note: Hawaiian diacritical marks comprise just two symbols: the ʻokina (glottal stop) and the kahakō (macron). We use them with Hawaiian place names, but do not add them to proper names if a family or a company does not use them.

ʻIolani Palace. The photograph reads: “The Palace. Now Executive Building.” Built in 1882, King Kalākaua utilized it as the official royal residence and the center of the Kingdom’s political and social life. After the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy, it served as a government building until its restoration beginning in 1969.
The Reciprocity Treaty with Hawaii: Some Considerations Against Its Abrogation, 1886. The author, George S. Boutwell, served as Counsel to Hawaiian Legation (a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy) discussed what a repeal of the treaty could mean. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States offered free trade between the two nations. It gave sugar planters economic privileges. When it was renewed in 1887, the treaty also gave the U.S. exclusive rights for a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Proclamation, January 17, 1893. This proclamation declared the power of the Provisional Government of Hawaii. It was signed by the thirteen members of the once secret Committee of Safety. The document purported to abrogate or abolish the Kingdom. It set up an Advisory Council of fourteen members. They dismissed Queen Liliʻuokalani, Charles B. Wilson (Marshal), Samuel Parker (Minister of Foreign Affairs), W. H. Cornwell (Minister of Finance), John F. Colburn (Minister of the Interior), and Arthur Peterson (Attorney General) from service. They installed Sanford Dole as President. On July 17, 1893, James Blout submitted a final U.S. government report on the overthrow which cited the action as illegal. The Provisional Government lasted less than a year before the Republic was put in place.
Sanford B. Dole, undated photograph. Sanford Ballard Dole (1844 –1926) was a Hawaiʻi-born lawyer. King Kalākaua appointed Dole a justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1887, and to a commission to revise judiciary laws in 1888. Queen Liliʻuokalani appointed him to her Privy Council in 1891. Dole advocated the westernization of Hawaiian government and culture. After the overthrow of the monarchy, he served as the President of the provisional government and the Republic of Hawaii. After his government secured Hawaiʻi’s annexation by the United States, he served as the first territorial governor.
Constitution of the Republic of Hawaii, July 4, 1894. The lengthy document outlined rights, the form of government, and executive, legislative, and judicial powers. It declared “Crown Land” as government property. It restricted voting eligibility to men, naturalized or with people from nations with treaty relations with Hawaiʻi. The constitution was signed by the delegates to the convention.
Political Ribbon for the Constitutional Convention for the Republic of Hawaii, July 4, 1894. Frederick Swartz Lyman (1837 – 1918) used this ribbon as a delegate to the 1894 convention. It features a sunburst, an eagle, and a star with the word “HAWAII.” Lyman worked as a surveyor, rancher, judge, and senator. He became president of the Hilo & Hawaii Telephone Company and organized the Hilo Electric Light Company.
A Hand-Book on the Annexation of Hawaii, 1897. The booklet, written by Lorrin Andrews Thurston (1858 –1931), includes his arguments for American annexation and his answers to objections. Thurston was a Hawaiʻi-born lawyer, politician, and businessman. All four of his grandparents were missionaries to Hawaiʻi. He had served as Minister of the Interior for King Kalākaua but played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Kingdom. The U.S. annexed the independent state of Hawaiʻi on July 7, 1898 with a joint resolution of Congress. The action took place during the Spanish-American War (April 21 – December 10, 1898), when the U.S. also gained control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

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