Liliʻuokalani

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Queen Liliʻuokalani
Image:Liliuokalani.jpg Her Majesty Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaiʻi
Birth name	Lydia Kamakaʻeha
Reign	January 20, 1891 - January 17, 1893
Successor	the Last Hawaiian Monarch
Predecessor	Kalākaua
Consort	John Owen Dominis
Born	September 2, 1838
Died	November 11, 1917

Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaii (September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917), originally named Lydia Kamakaʻeha, also known as Lydia Kamakaʻeha Paki, with the chosen royal name of Liliʻuokalani, and later named Lydia K. Dominis, was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

On September 16, 1862, she married John Owen Dominis, who became Governor of Oʻahu and Maui. They had no children; Liliʻuokalani's heiress for several years was her niece Victoria Kaʻiulani (1875–1899), although Kaʻiulani predeceased her.

Liliʻuokalani inherited the throne from her brother Kalākaua on January 17, 1891. Shortly after she gained power, she tried to abrogate the existing Bayonet Constitution and draft a new constitution that would restore power to the monarchy. American and European subjects of the Kingdom of Hawaii, threatened by the elimination of suffrage by the queen's proposed constitution, asserted that the queen had "virtually abdicated" by trying to subvert the constitution and organized to depose her. Besides the threatened loss of suffrage, business interests within the Kingdom were concerned about the removal of foreign tariffs in the American sugar trade due to the McKinley Act (which effectively eliminated the favored status of Hawaiian sugar due to the Reciprocity Treaty), and considered the possibility of annexation to the United States (and enjoying the same sugar bounties as domestic producers) as a welcome side effect of ending the monarchy. During the overthrow in 1893 the American minister in Hawaiʻi at the time, John L. Stevens, ordered troops from the U.S.S. Boston ashore, to protect American businesses and property. The Queen was deposed on January 17, 1893, and a provisional government was instituted.

The administration of Grover Cleveland commissioned the Blount Report, and based on its findings believed that the overthrow of Liliʻuokalani was illegal and offered November 16, 1893 to give the throne back to her if she granted amnesty to everyone responsible. She initially refused, and it was reported that she said she would have them beheaded - she denied that specific accusation, but admitted that she intended them to suffer the punishment of death.<ref>Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, CHAPTER XL</ref> With this development, then-President Grover Cleveland sent the issue to the United States Congress. Although she changed her mind on December 18, 1893, and U.S. Minister Willis demanded her reinstatement by the Provisional Government, the Provisional Government refused. Congress responded to Cleveland's referral with another investigation, and submitted the Morgan Report by the U.S. Senate on February 26, 1894, which exonerated both Minister Stevens and the U.S. troops from any responsibility for the overthrow. On July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawaiʻi was proclaimed and Sanford B. Dole, one of the first people who originally called on the institution of the monarchy to be abolished, became President. It was recognized immediately by the United States government.

Liliʻuokalani was arrested on January 16, 1895 (several days after a failed rebellion by Robert Wilcox) when firearms were found in the gardens of her home, of which she denied any knowledge. She was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison and fined $5000, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace until she was released in 1896, with the establishment of the Republic of Hawaiʻi. Failing in attempts to regain the throne, she unsuccessfully entered against the federal government claims totaling $450,000 for property and other losses, making personal claim to the crown lands. The territorial legislature of Hawaii finally voted her an annual pension of $4,000 and permitted her to receive the income from a sugar plantation of 6,000 acres (24 km²). She went home to Washington Place, where she lived as a private citizen until her death in 1917 due to complications from a stroke. As expected, Hawaiʻi was annexed to the United States through a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress in 1898.

Liliʻuokalani was an accomplished author and songwriter. Her book, Hawaiʻi's Story by Hawaiʻi's Queen, told the history of her country. Some of her best-known musical compositions include the anthem, "Aloha ʻOe," which she composed during her captivity (also known as "Farewell to Thee"). This was the end of the Hawaiian Monarchy.

The statue of Queen Liliʻuokalani on the grounds of the State Capitol in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani - a page on the website of the University of Illinois at Chicago
Hawaiʻi, United States of America - a page from the Almanach de Bruxelles website

Preceded by: Kalākaua as King of Hawaiʻi	Queen of Hawaiʻi 1891 - 1893	Succeeded by: Sanford B. Dole - President of the Republic of Hawaiʻi 1893-1900 and as Governor of the Territory of Hawaiʻi 1900-1903

Monarchs of Hawaiʻi	Image:Arms.gif
Kamehameha I \| Kamehameha II \| Kamehameha III \| Kamehameha IV Kamehameha V \| Lunalilo \| Kalākaua \| Liliʻuokalani