Lili'uokalani: Who was the Last Queen of Hawaii?

Born in 1838, Lili'uokalani became the queen of Hawaii in 1891. Unfortunately, she was destined to be Hawaii's last monarch. Listen in and learn how Hawaii became a state in this podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sara Day. In our last podcast,
we talked about Kama the Great and the formation of

(00:22):
the monarchy, and we may have mangled a few Hawaiian pronunciation,
certainly pronounced our vowels thoroughly. But how did it all end?
And why is a far flung island grouping in the
middle of the Pacific Estate. That's what we're going to
talk about today. And we're going to go back to
a point we mentioned in the earlier podcast and actually

(00:43):
a point we mentioned in a podcast a long time
ago on bread Fruit and the mutiny on the Bounty,
And that's Captain Cook's arrival in Hawaii, and that marks
the beginning of a century of westernization in the islands.
And we have explorers arriving, traders and venturers all coming
to wait. And we also have some stuff that fundamentally

(01:05):
changes the the life of people on the island by
livestock and frame houses, Protestant and Catholic religion, taverns, written language. Yeah,
but it's not until the middle of the nineteenth century
that European and American interests really start to exert a
pretty large amount of control over the islands, and the
white interest centers around business, and it's mostly sugar trade stuff,

(01:29):
and these business interests gradually forced the monarchy to transform
to give up power. Like bit by bit, it goes
on for a long time, but by eighteen forty eight,
King kama may Have the Third allows the Great Mahale,
which is the division of lands, to take place, and
this allows people to own private property. I mean, this

(01:50):
is a really great example too of fundamental life changes
for native Hawaiians. At the time, Hawaii was still certainly
its own country, but there are loads of different foreign
nations exerting influence in the islands. It's not just the
United States, and in fact, the US is pretty disenchanted
with the idea of possibly annexing the islands. When King

(02:13):
Kamomea the Third secretly petitions the government to make it happen,
and he's met with a very definitive reply from Secretary
of State Daniel Webster. No power ought to take possession
of the islands as a conquest or colonization. But by
the eighteen seventies that's starting to change a bit, and
US dominance in Hawaii is becoming very obvious. It's taking

(02:36):
precedents to other countries dominance. And this is really proven
by the Reciprocity Treaty, which allowed for free trade of
sugar to behind its states and in return the right
for America to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
So it was a very good deal for these sugar
merchants in Hawaii because they could do all their trading
and not have to pay a bunch of tariffs on it.

(02:59):
The eighteen seventy five treaty had been supported by Hawaii's
new king, David Klako, but the businessman didn't quite trust
him because he was building up the royalty, you know,
constructing a palace and reviving Hawaiian traditions that had been
forced underground, like the hula. So in eighteen eighty nine,

(03:20):
the Honolulu Rifles, a group of white troops, forced him
to ratify a new constitution known as the Bayonet Constitution,
which strips his powers, loads his cabinet with white businessmen,
and limits the voting rights of natives. So now to vote,
you don't have to be a citizen, but you have
to own property and make more than six hundred dollars

(03:41):
a year, so this disenfranchises most Hawaiian natives. But this
is the state of the country when colakue sister Lilo
Kolani takes the throne in eight and she was born
in eighteen thirty eight. She was the third of ten
children born to a high chief, and you was adopted
at birth and educated very well at the Royal School,

(04:04):
which was run by American missionaries, and she was even
given a Christian name. Lydia marries a white man, John
Owen Dominos, who later becomes an island governor. So just
to give you some background on her, she's very intelligent,
she's very well educated, and she's been thoroughly schooled and
how to be a modern, dignified lady. But she doesn't

(04:28):
ever really forget her Hawaiian background. She continues to speak
the native language, she likes to practice native customs. She's
aware of her heritage. And while she hadn't had much
experience governing, she had already proven herself more loyal to
her people than business interests. She had been left in
charge for a time in one when her brother went

(04:49):
on an international journey, and when an epidemic of smallpox
struck the island, which was ultimately traced to Chinese labors.
She responded by shutting down the port. Businessmen completely freaked out,
but she stood her ground, and when she becomes queen,
it's no surprise that she immediately starts looking for a
way to overturn the unfair Bayonet Constitution. But there's another

(05:14):
really important economic development that's going on around the same
time that seals Hawaii's fate, and that's the revocation of
the free and favored entry status for the sugar exports.
So in with the passing of the McKinley tariff, sugar
growers can no longer make these huge profits they've been
used to. They don't have this completely free trade with

(05:37):
the US anymore, and it causes a recession on the island. Hey,
then would it perhaps be easier for them, Sarah, if
Hawaii were part of the United State, Yes, it certainly would.
You wouldn't have tariffs if you too were part of
the United States. So the sugar growers are starting to think,

(05:57):
let's get Hawaii annexed. In eighteen nine three, the Queen
is ready to introduce her new constitution and fearing trouble.
Her advisors have her hold back a few days, but
trouble is brewing. You know, the businessmen aren't pleased that
Lilioakolani is unwilling to be cowed, and they're making plans

(06:19):
to form the Committee on Annexation and overthrow her. And
the perfect opportunity for this comes January eighteen, when four
boats of U. S. Marines with guns disembark in Honolulu.
So you have all of these troops now who might
support this American lead uprising. So a hundred and sixty

(06:40):
two troops marched through Honolulu streets toward the palace, and
the queen watches from her balcony. The next day, she
surrenders at gunpoint and seeds control to the island's wealthy
white sugar growers, who are going to form this temporary government.
So we have a bloodless coup and Sanford Dole, as
in Old Pineapples, establishes a temporary government and petitions the

(07:04):
US to annex Hawaii with the Committee on Annexation. He
claims the government is corrupt and that they're trying to
advance democracy, and he's supported by the U. S. Minister
to Hawaii, John Stevens. Next, Stevens recognizes the new government
and proclaims Hawaii a U. S. Protectorate, all without the
permission of the U. S. State Department. Crazy. I still

(07:27):
can't get over that part. But Benjamin Harrison, whose president,
is game with all this, even though it is defying
any kind of structure order, and he signs the Treaty
of Annexation and sends it to the Senate. But wait,
but we have had an election by this point, and
before the Senate can ratify the treaty, we get a

(07:49):
new president, Grover Cleveland, who withdraws the treaty for the
purpose of reexamination. So Cleveland appoints James Blount to investigate
what actually had then, and Blunt finds that Stevens had
acted improperly obviously, and there's no reason that American flag
should be flying over Hawaiian government buildings, and also decides

(08:12):
we need to restore the queen. What happened was wrong.
So Sandford Dole, however, is not willing to let go.
And he says, no, I'm not going to give power
back to the queen. And he argues that the US
has no right to interfere with what's going on in Hawaii,
so he's extremely defiant. The new American Minister under President Cleveland,

(08:33):
Albert S. Willis, offers the crown back to the queen
on the condition that she pardoned those who dethroned her.
She says no and then changes her mind, but the
delay compromises her position and Cleveland releases the entire issue
to Congress for debate. So annexationists lobby Congress against the
restoration of the monarchy. They ultimately vote to censure Stevens

(08:57):
for his disobedience, but they're still pretty open to the
idea of annexation, and the United States won't move to
help the queen in any way. So on July fourth,
the provisional government proclaims Hawaii is a republic, and Sanford
Dole declares himself president without a vote, and we've got
some nerves, he really does, and pineapples and the new

(09:20):
Republic of Hawaii is immediately recognized by the US. So
we go from this limbo limbo state where they're hoping
that they'll become part of the United States, to actually
being a republic their their own country. But it's a
country ruled by businessmen. The queen has not lost hope.
She still has faith that Cleveland will restore her to

(09:41):
the throne, and she retains her title but no power. Eventually,
her supporters try to rise up for her what when
some are found on the beach with a shipment of guns,
her house is searched and more weapons are found in
her garden. She's held captive in the palace for months
and eventually gives up her title on January with the

(10:03):
promise that her arrested supporters wouldn't be killed. Most are anyway,
and native Hawaiians are very very much against the takeover.
Don't think otherwise. I ran into some accounts about I
don't even think I learned about this really in US history,
but I ran into some accounts saying that it's glossed
over oftentimes and that it's taught like Hawaiians really wanted

(10:25):
to become part of the That was not the case. Um.
So they're staging rallies and forming men's and women's groups
against annexation. Their princess and the heir to the throne
actually goes to New York and d C. She's fresh
from nine years of boarding school in England, so she's
very charming and eloquent and she wins a lot of

(10:47):
hearts and minds. She speaks to the newspaper men and
gives them the idea of that um The Hawaiians are
nothing like what they've been led to believe. She even
meets with the President, but it's not enough to really
make things happen. The Republican Party platform in the election
of eighteen ninety six is very pro annexation, so when

(11:11):
their candidate McKinley is inaugurated in March, it's really no
surprise that he restarts the process. He and three representatives
from the Republic of Hawaii sign a treaty of annexation
and submitted to the Senate. So the men's and women's
groups in Hawaii swing into action. They order a mass
petition and between September and October collect twenty one two

(11:36):
d sixty nine signatures, and that's of thirty nine thousand
Native Hawaiians. And they also sent four delegates to d
C with the petition. And the Queen is already there
lobbying and preparing a strategy. And the delegation meets with
the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on
December nine, and the senator reads the text of the

(11:56):
petition to the Senate, it's formally accepted, so yeah, the
roots work really good work here. And the next day
the delegates meet with the Secretary of State and formally
protest annexation. And from there they go crazy lobbying all
sorts of senators trying to oppose this as furiously as

(12:16):
they can. And by the time they leave on February,
only forty six senators are willing to vote for annexing Hawaii,
so they've really made a huge difference because that is
not enough for a two thirds majority, So the treaty
is defeated. But February, the USS Main blows up in

(12:37):
the Havannah Harbor, the Spanish American War starts, some of
which takes place in the Philippines, and now we need
a mid Pacific fueling station and naval base. So pro
annexation groups decide to resubmit the proposal, playing up the
fears of war and the possibility that the Japanese will
do it first. This time it's a joint resolution, which

(12:58):
requires a simple majory already instead of that two thirds majority,
and the Newlands Resolution passes and is signed into law
by McKinley in Hawaii is now part of the United States,
and Cleveland actually later wrote of this, I am ashamed
of the whole affair. So this was not something that
everyone in the United States was celebrating. And back in Hawaii,

(13:21):
obviously everyone who supported the royal family is in deep mourning.
Um The queen and her air focused on trying to
secure voting rights for the people now that they are
part of the United States. And the queen also writes
songs for the rest of her life, something that she
did before as well. But she was really good at
blending Native Hawaiian and Western styles together, and her most

(13:45):
famous song is a loh Hallway and she's also responsible
for writing one of Hawaii's national anthems. So the queen
lived a long time. We bid goodbye to her in
November eleventh, nineteen seventeen, at the age of seventeen nine,
but she didn't live long enough to see statehood for Hawaii,
which didn't come until nineteen fifty nine, and that of

(14:07):
course gave people living in Hawaii full rights as American citizens.
And we have one more little note on this. In
the nineteen eighties, a sovereignty movement started in Hawaii, and
some people wanted a restoration of the monarchy. Others wanted
some sort of reparations. Some people wanted Hawaii to become
its own nation, and others wanted Hawaii to have the

(14:29):
native people at least received the same sort of federal
recognition that Native Americans received. Queen Lilia Wokelani's story obviously
inspired this movement, but it also one our respect and admiration,
and that is the story of the last Queen of Hawaii,
which brings us to our listener mail. So our first

(14:54):
email is from Suzanne, and I love just the subject
of her email. It's breadfruit, yummy acclamation point. But she
was writing in regard to our episode on bread fruit
and the mutiny on the Bounty, and she wrote to
tell us that she's originally from Jamaica and breadfruit was
something that her mother would make all the time, and
she gave us a little bread fruit recipe tip. She

(15:14):
said her mother would cut off the skin and roast
it on a grill over an open flame, then wrap
it and foil to keep the moisture in. Then the
following day she would cut it up into wedges, lightly salted,
and then fry it, and she said it was normally
served as breakfast with fish or boiled white yams, or
bananas or Johnny cakes, and uh, sometimes a big slice

(15:36):
of pear, which is what we call avocados in Jamaica, which,
as I thought, was great. So thanks for sending us
your recipe, Seasanne. And we have another recipe from Liz,
who said, I'm a few days away from finishing my
Peace Corps service in Guiana, South America, and we have
bread fruit here. Every time I see them in the market,

(15:57):
I smiled to myself, thinking about all the trouble they
getting to the Caribbean. You asked for breadfruit recipes, and
this is what I found in the Peace Corp Giana cookbook.
It's for bread fruit puffs and it's one bread fruit,
two tablespoons of butter, two shallots chopped, one egg, bread
crumbs and oil for frying. And you boil and mash

(16:18):
the bread fruit while hot, add butter, shallots and onions, mix,
add eggs and beat well. Roll the mixture into balls
and toss in your bread crumbs and fry it in
hot oil. So if anyone gives this a try, please
let us know and we would like a picture. I
also found a recipe or actually a collection of recipes

(16:38):
on Smithsonian for all sorts of bread fruit. I didn't
even think to check Food Network. We might have to
post that one on our Twitter or something. We also
had a correction. I think Sarah's got that one. We did.
I'm not even sure what we said originally. We're guessing
probably the Scioto River. Something wrong. We won't we won't

(16:59):
relive the longness, but the correct pronunciation is Sciota or
maybe even si o two. So, and that was our two.
Come to the podcast if you have any corrections to
send us or delicious historical recipes. Our email is History
Podcast at how stuff works dot com. You can also

(17:20):
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(17:40):
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