SYMHC Classics: Lili'uokalan -- Who Was the Last Queen of Hawaii?

Today we're revisiting a 2010 episode from previous hosts Katie and Sarah. 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 (00:02):
Happy Saturday. We are following last week's Saturday Classic with
another about Hawaii. Today's is on Queen Liliukolani, who was
the last monarch of Hawaii and her attempts to resist
the overthrow of her government by United States business interests
who were backed by the U. S. Army. This episode
is from July with previous hosts Katie and Sarah Enjoy.

(00:25):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome
to the podcast. I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah down.
In our last podcast, we talked about the great and
the formation of the monarchy, and we may have mangled

(00:49):
a few Hawaiian pronunciations, certainly pronounced our thoroughly. But how
did it all end? And why is a far flung
island grouping in the middle of the Pacific a state.
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 a point we mentioned in

(01:09):
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,
adventurers all coming to Haaii. And we also have some
stuff that fundamentally changes the the life of people on

(01:32):
the island. 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

(01:52):
sugar trade stuff, 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 Kamehameha the Third allows the Great Mehale,
which is the division of lands, to take place, and

(02:12):
this allows people to own private property. I mean, this
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

(02:34):
with the idea of possibly annexing the islands, when King
Kamehamea 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

(02:56):
US dominance in Hawaii is becoming very vious. It's taking
precedents to other countries dominance. And this is really proven
by the Reciprocity Treaty, which allowed for free trade of
sugar to the United 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

(03:17):
merchants in Hawaii because they could do all their trading
and not have to pay a bunch of tariffs on it.
The eight seventy five treaty had been supported by Hawaii's
new King, David Colakoa, 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

(03:40):
forced underground like the hula. So in eighteen eighty nine,
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 how to vote.

(04:00):
You don't have to be a citizen, but you have
to own property and make more than six hundred dollars
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

(04:22):
children born to a high chief, and she was adopted
at birth and educated very well at the Royal School
which was run by American missionaries, and she was even
given a Christian name, Lydia. Marries a white man, John
Owen Dominus, who later becomes an island governor. So just
to give you some background on her, she's very intelligent.

(04:43):
She was very well educated, and she's been thoroughly schooled
and how to be a modern, dignified lady. But she
doesn't 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

(05:04):
much experience governing, she had already proven herself more loyal
to her people than business interests. She'd been left in
charge for a time in eight one when her brother
went 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,

(05:26):
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. There's another really

(05:47):
important economic development that's going on around this same time
that seals Hawaii space, and that's the revocation of the
free and favored entry status for the sugar exports. So
in eighteen I do 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

(06:10):
with 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 States, Yes, it
certainly would. You wouldn't have tariffs if you, too were
part of the United States. So these sugar growers are
starting to think, let's get Hawaii annexed in The Queen

(06:35):
is ready to introduce her new constitution, and fearing trouble,
her advisors have her hold back a few days. But
trouble is brewing. Yeah, the businessmen aren't pleased that Lilaclannie
is unwilling to be cowed, and they're making plans to
form the Committee on Annexation and overthrow her. And the
perfect opportunity for this comes January when four boats of U.

(07:01):
S Marines with guns disembark in Hollolulu. So that you
have all of these troops now who might support this
American lead uprising. So a hundred and sixty 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

(07:24):
growers who are going to form this temporary government. So
we have a bloodless coup and Sanford Dole, as in
Dold Pineapples, establishes a temporary government and petitions the US
to annex Hawaii with the Committee on Annexation. He claims
the government is corrupt and that they're trying to advance democracy,

(07:45):
and he's supported by the U. S. Minister to Hawaii,
John Stevens. Next, Stevens recognizes the new government and proclaims
Hawaii a US protectorate, all without the permission of the U. S.
State Department. Crazy, I still can't go to over that part.
But Benjamin Harrison, whose president, is game with all this,

(08:05):
even though it is defying any kind of structure or 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 new president, Grover Cleveland, who
withdraws the treaty for the purpose of reexamination. So Cleveland

(08:29):
appoints James Blount to investigate what actually happened, 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 we need to restore the queen. What
happened was wrong. So Sandford Dole, however, is not willing

(08:51):
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, 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

(09:14):
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 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.

(09:37):
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 that he really does and
pineapples and the new Republic of Hawaii is immediately recognized
by the US. So we go from this limbo limbo

(09:58):
state where their hope ing 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 the throne, and she retains
her title but no power. Eventually, her supporters try to

(10:20):
rise up for her, but 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 promise that her
arrested supporters wouldn't be killed. Most are anyway, and native

(10:41):
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 to become
part of that was not the case. Um, So they're

(11:03):
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 hearts and mind.
She speaks to the newspaper men and gives them the

(11:24):
idea of that. Uh, 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

(11:44):
Republican Party platform in the election of eight is very
pro annexation, so when 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 submit it to the Senate. So

(12:06):
the men's and women's groups in Hawaii swing into action.
They order a mass petition and between September and October
collect two 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

(12:26):
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 petition to the Senate. It's formally accepted, so
roots work really good work here. And the next day
the delegates meet with the Secretary of State and formally

(12:48):
protest annexation. And from there they go crazy lobbying all
sorts of senators trying to oppose this as furiously as
they can. And by the time they leave on Februar,
only forty six Senators are willing to vote for annexing Hawaii.
So they've really made a huge difference because that is

(13:09):
not enough for a two thirds majority. So the treaty
is defeated. But February, the USS Main blows up in
the Havannah Harbor, the Spanish American War starts, some of
which takes place in the Philippines, and now we need
a mid Pacific feeling station and naval base so pro

(13:29):
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
requires a simple majority instead of that two thirds majority,
and the New Lands Resolution passes and is signed into
law by McKinley in Hawaii is now part of the

(13:49):
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 still librating.
And back in Hawaii, obviously everyone who supported the royal
family is in deep mourning. Um The queen and her
air focus on trying to secure voting rights for the

(14:12):
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 famous song is a Low Hallway.
And she's also responsible for writing one of Hawaii's national anthems.

(14:34):
So the queen lived a long time. We bid goodbye
to her in November eleventh, nineteen seventeen, at the age
of seventy nine, but she didn't live long enough to
see statehood for Hawaii, which didn't come until nineteen fifty nine,
and that, of 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

(14:56):
started in Hawaii, and some people wanted a restoration of
the mo on our Key, others wanted some sort of reparations.
Some people wanted Hawaii to become its own nation, and
others wanted Hawaii to have the native people at least
received the same sort of federal recognition that Native Americans received.

(15:16):
Queen Lilia Wocolani'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. Thank you so
much for joining us on this Saturday. If you have
heard an email address or a Facebook you are l
or something similar over the course of today's episode, since

(15:38):
it is from the archive that might be out of
date now, you can email us at History Podcast at
how stuff Works dot com, and you can find us
all over social media at missed in History, and you
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the I heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen
to podcasts. Dondee miss in History Class is a production

(16:01):
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