The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Hawaii

King Kamehameha I established foreign trade throughout the pacific to include Russia, Great Britain, Asia, South America, and North America. Hawaii became a resupply point, a whaling community, an exporter of goods and a strategic haven in the middle of the Pacific primed for colonialism and opportunity. The strategic location in the Pacific proved to be the final blow to Hawaiian independence. In 1893 an attempt to overthrow the Nation of Hawaii by the US Marine backed Committee of Public Safety, a group of men comprised of missionaries who became wealthy farmers and merchants as a result of the monetizing of Hawaiian lands in 1848, failed due to intervention by President Grover Cleveland. Prior to and after the attempted overthrow in 1893, the CPS lobbied the United States for annexation under the American Flag. In 1898, their lobbying efforts under then President William McKinley proved successful as the Spanish, Cuban and American War had placed Hawaii at the forefront of strategic significance. Hawaii was made a territory of the United States in 1900, securing the boarders of the United States from threats in the Pacific. The monarchy existed from 1810 to 1898 and was reigned by eight kings and queens.

The fall of the Kingdom of Hawaii fostered a new era in Hawaii’s History. These were turbulent times for the native sons and daughters of Hawaii. This new error resulted in the suppression of the culture and the indigenous people. Hawaiians became second class citizens in a purposeful “whitewash.” Iolani palace, located on Oahu, is the only palace in America- a home and eventual prison to Queen Liliuokalani, the last Monarch of Hawaii.