“…actions was plainly to humiliate me before my people and before the world”

— Queen Liliuokalani

Queen Liliuokalani was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian islands. She believed that her mission was to preserve the islands and keep the native traditions and culture. However, in 1898, Hawaii was annexed to the United States and Queen Liliuokalani was forced to give up her throne.

In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani sought to empower herself and Hawaiians through a new constitution which she herself had drawn up. It was her right as a sovereign to issue a new constitution. However,  a group composed of Americans and Europeans formed a Committee of Safety  seeking to overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom, depose the Queen, and seek annexation to the United States. But, in 1893, James H. Blount, newly appointed American minister to Hawaii concluded the Hawaiian people aligned with the Queen. Blount and President Cleveland agreed that the Queen should be restored.

In 1898, The Hawaiian Islands became territories of the United States during the Spanish American War which took  1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) of land that formerly was held in trust by the monarchy.

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1. Do you think that it was fair that you were kept under house  arrest for two decades? What could or would you have done with that since if you were “free”?

2. How do you think that your main goals for Hawaii conflicted with America’s imperialistic goals?

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Sources

http://qlcc.org/queen.htm

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0510253/bio