Hawaii History

Archaeologic evidence points to earliest habitation in the 11th century, probably by Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas, Raiatea and Bora Bora. The first recorded European contact with the islands was in 1778 by British explorer James Cook. However, substantial evidence (Stokes 1932 for example) exists of earlier Spanish visits to Hawai'i.

Hawai'i is one of four constituent states of the United States that was an independent nation prior to its statehood, along with California, Texas, and Vermont. The Kingdom of Hawaii existed from 1810 until 1893, when the monarchy was overthrown. It was an independent republic from 1894 until 1898. It was annexed by the United States in 1898, became a territory in 1900 and has been a state since 1959.

Anthropologists believe that Polynesians from the Marquesas and possibly the Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands at some time between AD 300 and 1000. There is a great deal of dispute regarding these dates.

Archaeologists and historians also differ as to whether there were one or two waves of colonization. It is believed by some authors that there had been an early settlement from the Marquesas, and a later wave of immigrants from Tahiti, circa 1300, who were said to have introduced a new line of high chiefs and the practice of human sacrifice. This later immigration is detailed in folk tales about Paao (P??ao). However, other authors have argued that there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence whatsoever for a later influx of Tahitian settlers and that Pa?ao must be regarded as a myth. Since there are still many supporters of the Pa?ao narrative, this topic is still hotly disputed.

History of Hawaii
Ancient times
Monarchy
Provisional Government
Republic
Territory
State

Leaving aside the question of Pa?ao, historians agree that the history of the islands was marked by a slow but steady growth in population and the size of chiefdoms, which grew to encompass whole islands. Local chiefs, called alii (ali?i), ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. This was conducted in a system of alii of various ranks somewhat similar to Feudalism.

The 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook is usually taken to be Hawai'i's first contact with European explorers. Cook plotted and published the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands, so that they could be found again. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, and reported the native name as Owyhee. This is also the reason for the existence of the British Overseas Territory of the South Sandwich Islands near Argentina, as opposed to the Hawaiian ones.

Some writers have claimed that there were European visitors before Cook, citing Hawaiian legends and references in some Spanish chronicles in support of their argument.[citation needed] While it is possible that there were earlier visitors, this is not accepted as fact by most historians.

Cook visited the Hawaiian islands twice. The second visit ended badly for him, when he was killed at Kealakekua Bay in 1779. He had attempted to abduct a Hawaiian chief and hold him as ransom for return of a ship's boat that was stolen by a different minor chief; the chief's supporters fought back, killing him.

After Cook's visit and the publication of several books relating his voyages, the Hawaiian islands received many European visitors: explorers, traders, and eventually whalers who found the islands a convenient harbor and source of fresh food. Early British influence can still be seen from the design of the local Flag of Hawaii which has the British Union Flag in the corner. Visitors introduced diseases to the formerly isolated islands, and the Hawaiian population plunged precipitously. American missionaries arrived in 1820 and eventually converted the chiefs and the remaining population to Protestant Christianity.

After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kaua'i in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872.

The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the popular election of King Lunalilo over Kalakaua. After Lunalilo's death, in a hotly contested and allegedly fraudulent election by the legislature in 1874 between Kalakaua and Emma (which led to riots and the landing of U.S. and British troops to keep the peace), governance was passed on to the House of Kalakaua.

In 1887, the influence of Walter Murray Gibson, a group of primarily American and European businessmen, including kingdom subjects and members of the Hawaiian government forced King Kalakaua to sign the derisively nicknamed "Bayonet Constitution" which stripped the king of administrative authority, eliminated voting rights for Asians and set minimum income and property requirements for American, European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to wealthy elite Americans, Europeans and native Hawaiians. King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her overthrow in 1893.

In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani threatened to abrogate the "Bayonet Constitution" and draft a new constitution that would restore power to the monarchy. Supporters of the Reform Party (primarily of American and European ancestry, but including some native Hawaiians) organized in response to this and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. American troops aboard the USS Boston were landed in Honolulu under strict orders of neutrality, to protect the "lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in preserving public order",[7] while a 13 member council of businessmen, attorneys and politicians organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Liliuokalani.

The monarchy ended in January 1893, and there was much controversy in the following years as the queen tried to regain her throne. After an unsuccessful attempt at armed rebellion in 1895, a weapons cache was found on the palace grounds and Queen Liliuokalani was placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal of the Republic of Hawaii, convicted of misprision of treason and then imprisoned in her own home. The Queen officially abdicated in 1896.[8] In 1993, a joint Apology Resolution regarding the overthrow was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.[9]

The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of Hawai'i from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands Resolution in Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States and became the Territory of Hawaii on July 7, 1898.

When William McKinley won the presidential election in November of 1896, the question of Hawai'i's annexation to the U.S. was again opened. The previous president, Grover Cleveland, was a friend of Queen Liliuokalani. He had remained opposed to annexation until the end of his term, but McKinley was open to persuasion by U.S. expansionists and by annexationists from Hawai'i. He agreed to meet with a committee of annexationists from Hawai'i, Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch and William Kinney. After negotiations, in June of 1897, McKinley agreed to a treaty of annexation with these representatives of the Republic of Hawai'i.[10] The president then submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval.

Despite some opposition in the islands, the Newlands Resolution was passed by the House June 15, 1898, by a vote of 209 to 91, and by the Senate on July 6, 1898, by a vote of 42 to 21, annexing Hawai'i as a U.S. territory. Its legality continues to be questioned because it was a United States Government resolution, not a treaty of cession or conquest as is required by international law. Both houses of the American Congress carried the measure with two-thirds majorities.

The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a U.S. territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1900, Hawai'i was granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawai'i remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, such as the Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various states of the U.S.

In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawai'i, from the new state.) On June 27 of that year, a referendum was held asking residents of Hawai'i to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawai'i voted at a ratio of 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawai'i was the 50th state of the Union.

After statehood, Hawai'i quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years.

In recent decades, the state government has implemented programs to promote Hawaiian culture. The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 incorporated as state constitutional law specific programs such as the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to promote the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture.

Controversy has erupted within the last decade over the extent of the Hawaiian cultural programs creating a new political dialogue within the state. Pitting the strong emotions of both integrationists and separatists, high rhetoric has been employed by both groups including the use of propaganda materials of dubious provenance. A much criticized example includes the Hui Aloha Aina (Hui Aloha ??ina) and Hui Kalaiaina (Hui K?lai??ina) petitions allegedly rediscovered in 1998. According to their proponents, the petitions are contemporaneous to the annexation of Hawai'i with one petition purportedly containing 22,000 signatures in opposition to the annexation while a second petition purportedly contains 17,000 signatures in favor of reinstating the monarchy. The validity of the petitions has been criticized by Lorrin Thurston in an analysis which indicates significant fraud.

Kamehameha

Kamehameha II

Kamehameha III

Kamehameha IV

Kamehameha V

Lunalilo

Kalakaua

Lili uokalani

Ship's landing force on duty at the Arlington Hotel, Honolulu, at the time of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, January 1893. Lieutenant Lucien Young, USN, commanded the detachment, and is presumably the officer at right.[6]

?Iolani Palace in Honolulu, formerly the residence of the Hawaiian monarch, was the capitol of the Republic of Hawaii.

All representative districts voted at least 93% in favor of Admission acts. Ballot (inset) and referendum results for the Admission Act of 1959.