How did queen liliuokalani get overthrown

Early Life and Career of Liliuokalani

Born in in Honolulu, Lydia Kamakaeha was a member of a high-ranking Hawaiian family; her mother, Keohokalole, served as an adviser to King Kamehameha III. Young Lydia was educated by missionaries and toured the Western world, as was customary for young members of the Hawaiian nobility.

She spent time in the court of Kamahameha IV and in married John Owen Dominus, the American-born son of a ship captain, who became an official in the Hawaiian government. Dominus would later serve as governor of Oahu and Maui; the couple would have no children.

Lydia’s elder brother, David Kalākaua, was chosen king in Three years later, when her youngest brother, W.P.

Leleiohoku (who had been Kalākaua's heir apparent), died in , Lydia was named presumptive heir to the throne. As crown princess, she was thereafter known by her royal name, Liliuokalani. In , she acted as Kalākaua's regent during the king’s world tour, and she also worked to organize schools for Hawaii’s youth.

Liliuokalani’s Ascension to the Throne

In , Crown Princess Liliuokalani and Kalākaua's wife, Kapiolani, served as Hawaii’s representatives at Queen Victoria’s Crown Jubilee in London, where they were received by the queen herself as well as U.S.

President Grover Cleveland. Also in , an elite class of business owners (mainly white) forced Kalākaua to sign the so-called “Bayonet Constitution,” which limited the power of the monarchy in Hawaii. Liliuokalani opposed this constitution, as well as the Reciprocity Treaty, by which Kalākaua had granted commercial privileges to the United States, along with control over Pearl Harbor.

This stance lost the future queen the support of foreign businessmen (known as haole) before she even took the throne.

When Kalākaua died in early , Liliuokalani succeeded him, becoming the first woman ever to rule Hawaii. As queen, she acted to implement a new constitution that would restore the powers lost to the monarchy through the Bayonet Constitution.

In January , a group of American and European businessmen, with the support of U.S. Minister John Stevens and a contingent of U.S. Marines, staged a coup to depose the queen. Liliuokalani surrendered, with hopes of appealing to President Cleveland to reinstate her.

Hawaii’s Last Sovereign: Liliuokalani

Cleveland offered Liliuokalani reinstatement in return for her granting amnesty to all those who had been involved in the coup.

She initially refused, but then acquiesced; in vain, however, as the provisional government formed after the coup (led by Sanford Dole) denied her reinstatement.

In July , the government proclaimed the Republic of Hawaii, with Dole as its first president.

Early in , after loyalist Robert Wilcox led a failed insurrection aimed at restoring Liliuokalani to the throne, the queen was placed under house arrest and charged with treason. She agreed to sign a formal abdication in late January in exchange for the pardon of the supporters who had led the revolt.

(Later, she tried to claim that the abdication was invalid as she had signed her married name, rather than her royal one.)

With no children of her own, Liliuokalani had designated her niece Kaiulani as heir, and in the two women traveled to Washington together to try and convince Cleveland to restore the Hawaiian monarchy, without success.

As leader of the “Stand Firm” (Oni pa’a) movement, Liliuokalani fought steadfastly against U.S. annexation of Hawaii. Though Cleveland was sympathetic, his successor William McKinley was not, and his government, seeing the need for a military foothold in the Pacific region during the Spanish-American War, annexed Hawaii in July Kaiulani, in poor health, died in at the age of Liliuokalani withdrew from public life and lived until , when she suffered a stroke and died at the age of

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Liliuokalani

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Date Accessed

January 19,

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A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

July 10,

Original Published Date

December 2,