Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Hawaii Report

On January 16, 1893, American marines landed in peaceful Hawaii armed with Gatling guns, Howitzer cannons, double cartridge belts filled with ammuni¬tion, carbines and other instruments of war. The U.S. troops marched along the streets of Honolulu, rifles facing `Iolani palace, the seat of Hawaii's sovereignty.

The following day, resident conspirators numbering 18, mostly Americans, sneaked to the back steps of a government building a few yards from where the Ameri¬can troops had purposely lodg¬ed the night before. There, Henry Cooper, an American lawyer and resident of Hawaii for less than a year, proclaimed that he and seventeen others were now the govern¬ment of Hawaii. Calling themselves the "provisio¬nal govern¬ment" and selecting Sanford Dole president, they were to exist for the explicit purpose of annexing Hawaii to the United States.

American Minister Plenipotentiary John L. Stevens immediately recognized the "provisional government" as the government of Hawaii. He than joined in their demand that Queen Lili`uokalani, the constitutional monarch of the Hawaiian nation or surrender under threat of war with the United States.

Under such threat, the Queen eventually capitulated, but not without protest. These are her words:

I, Lili`uokalani, by the grace of God and under the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.

That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America, whose minister plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.

Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and perhaps the loss of life, I do, under this protest, and impelled by said force, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and rein¬state me and the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.

Rather than undoing its actions, the United States continued in its conspiracy to deprive an independent people of their right to self-determination, forcing Hawaii to serve it as the command headquarters of its Pacific military forces as well as an important finger of the American economic hand reaching into Asia.



The Hawaii Report -

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