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Today in History: Wednesday, January 29

1891: Lili’uokalani is proclaimed queen of Hawaii

On Jan. 29, 1891, after the death of her brother, Kalakaua, Lili’uokalani became the first and only reigning Hawaiian queen and the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. Her reign was short-lived however. Lili’uokalani tried to repeal the Bayonet Constitution, an 1887 agreement King Kalakaua made under pressure from U.S. investors and sugar planters that restricted the rights of native Hawaiians and stripped the monarchy of power. Due to Lili’uokalani’s refusal to recognize the agreement, a revolutionary “Committee of Safety” (organized by Hawaiian-born American Sanford B. Dole) staged a coup against Queen Lili’uokalani with the support of U.S. Marines and the U.S. Minister to Hawaii, John Stevens, in 1893. Stevens recognized Dole’s new government on his own authority and proclaimed Hawaii a  U.S. protectorate. Dole submitted a treaty of annexation to the U.S. Senate, but most Democrats opposed it, especially after it was revealed that most Hawaiians did not want annexation. President Grover Cleveland tried to restore Queen Lili’uokalani to the throne by sending a new U.S. minister to Hawaii, but Dole ignored the order to step down and instead proclaimed the Independent Republic of Hawaii, officially deposing the queen. In 1898, the United States successfully annexed the islands.