When I was little and my family from Hawaii would come to the Mainland during the Summer I used to notice that if it was the 4th of July they used to stand there in a sea of American Flags and oceans of Potato Salad and look…just a little grim, maybe a little quiet and at one point someone would take me aside and tell me the story about Queen Lili’uokalani.
My Filipino Grandfather who always smiled and was a gifted and lively story teller was not so animated when he told me how The Queen was put in chains and imprisoned in her own home and I used to wonder, as he told me the story, what the Queen of England or the President of The United States being put in chains and forced to live in the basement of their homes would look like and I couldn’t see it.
When I was a kid I learned from my Grandfather ( because I sure as Hell never learned about it at school ) that unlike the ” Declaration of Independence ” the Queen signed a document that dissolved Hawaii’s Independence. Our 50th State – how ironic- actually LOST its Independence when it was annexed by the U.S. Governement.
I wonder if they took the cuffs off when she signed.
They may have…. but they were there all the same weren’t they?
Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii signed a document which read in part: “Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. – Queen Lili’uokalani to Sanford B. Dole, Jan 17, 1893.”
Hawaii was annexed ( not admitted, not ‘became’ a state- amm )to the United States through a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress, signed into law by President McKinley on July 17, 1898.
Irregular Bones 
Anita, this is so true. I have two books about the assault on the Queen, and how out of compassion for her own people, she did not fight back.
She kept her dignity and she kept her kindness, and Hawaii was stolen from her. But in my memory, Her spirit lives on in the in all of us. We can only remember and know there was a great person who was the last Queen of Hawaii called Queen Lili’uokalani.
Your pen mate and friend, Rashida
Hello Rashida
Thank you so much for your words and for taking the time to add your voice to this story
Your Friend…
Anita
this was extracurricular to the doctrine of manifest destiny. America did many things to ensure its security. This was one of the most distasteful.
if their is any small consolation, I learned about this in high school history, and she was treated as a heroic personage.
I’m really glad to hear that Criminy.
The fact you learned about this at all isn’t a small consolation- it’s a very big one.
amm
Actually, I learned about this too. I think it was because we had a lot of kids from Hawaii in our high school.
I am convinced America would do it again. I am sorry for it.
Well, if it worked for them once….
amm
Well, actually, isn’t this how we got Texas? California? Heck, the entire country?
Sure it is Lori, but I’ve gotten e-mails from people who LIVE in Hawaii now or vacation there on a regular basis and had no idea this is what happened.
That’s shocking if you ask me.
amm
Isn’t there some group in Hawaii that advocates the reinstitution of the monarchy in some form, at least having a say-so in state politics? Isn’t the unofficial king some guy named David? I thought I read that somewhere.
FYI………
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Kawananakoa
As of late, I’ve been very concerned about the state of affairs in the U.S. Is there any hope?
The other day I was discussing with a friend of how when this country was founded. . .it was done so on roads of bloodshed. It’s appalling what the first pilgrims in America did to the native peoples. They were more successfull in carrying out genocede than any other people or country in the world. Native American people make up a measly 3% of what is now the “United States.”
I had never heard of what I suppose may be considered “the last Queen of Hawaii” and I thank you for educating me about her. She did a very noble thing by protecting her people from a battle they would surely not win.