Queen Liliuokalani’s Response to American Imperialism in Hawaii

Over the past five hundred years, both the tempo and the direction of encounters between strangers in the Pacific have been radically altered by the rise of Western powers to global predominance. By the nineteenth century, countries like Britain, France, and the United States were provoking a massive challenge to traditional ways of life all across the globe. The “world revolution of westernization” destabilized and disrupted indigenous societies while challenging their sovereignty. These were NOT relationships of mutual interaction, but relationships of extreme domination. In the case of Hawaii, not even constitutional innovation could prevent incorporation into the United States’ growing imperialist system. It is important to focus on the indigenous side of the harsh imperial world of the nineteenth century in order to restore voice and agency to peoples who have too often been treated as silent and passive victims of “progress.”

By the second half of the nineteenth century, it was clear that out of all of the Western powers, the United States posed the greatest threat to Hawaii. After the entrance of California into the United States in 1850, its ambitions in the Pacific became much greater. The Hawaiian monarchy cultivated a political alliance with Britain, but pressure from the United States was becoming harder and harder to resist. American interests in Hawaii were both strategic (the islands were an ideal base from which to pursue a more aggressive Pacific policy) and economic (the development of plantation agriculture in such crops as coffee, sugar, and fruit gave Americans another incentive to settle in Hawaii and become involved in its internal affairs).

American interests were increasingly antagonistic to the Hawaiian monarchy, particularly during the reign of the last two independent rulers of the islands, King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani. The government became indebted to the sugar magnates, and nonnative members of the legislature did not hesitate to point out the administrative and financial shortcomings of the kingdom. As American settlers grew impatient with the monarchy, the United States government was becoming alarmed by German activities in the Pacific. Americans were active in the formation of the Hawaiian League, which forced the king to accept a new constitution in 1887, under which he became a mere figurehead with no active role in government. The king’s only alternative was to be forcibly removed from power. When Liliuokalani tried to reassert royal power, she was deposed. In 1893, a republic was declared with American settlers in control. Five years later, Hawaii was annexed to the United States. A century of innovation in indigenous political and constitutional development had come to an end.

The document I would like you to read is taken from the memoirs of Hawaii’s last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani. Again, Liliuokalani was overthrown in a revolution led by American settlers, who created a Hawaiian republic. The excerpts from her memoirs I would like you to read (you can read them by clicking here; please read pgs. 366-372) were written in 1897, after she was removed from power but just before the Hawaiian Islands were officially annexed by the United States. One purpose of her autobiography was to influence public opinion in the United States to prevent that annexation.

After you have read the document, I would like you to consider and discuss the following: Does Liliuokalani seem to accept or resist the idea of Western cultural superiority? What is the purpose of her plea to the American people? What do think she is trying to accomplish? How do you feel about the Queen’s argument regarding the United States’ actions in Hawaii? Your thoughts…

Incidentally, the call for Hawaiian freedom and independence continues in the early 21st century. Check out the website of the Hawaii Independence Party by clicking here.