[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 19 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
103d CONGRESS
1st Session
S. J. RES. 19
To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow
of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians
on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawaii.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 21 (legislative day, January 5), 1993
Mr. Akaka (for himself and Mr. Inouye) introduced the following joint
resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Select Committee
on Indian Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
JOINT RESOLUTION
To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow
of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians
on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawaii.
Whereas, prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in 1778, the Native
Hawaiian people lived in a highly organized, self-sufficient, subsistent
social system based on communal land tenure with a sophisticated
language, culture, and religion;
Whereas, a unified monarchical government of the Hawaiian Islands was
established in 1810 under Kamehameha I, the first King of Hawaii;
Whereas, from 1826 until 1893, the United States recognized the independence of
the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and complete diplomatic recognition
to the Hawaiian Government, and entered into treaties and conventions
with the Hawaiian monarchs to govern commerce and navigation in 1826,
1842, 1849, 1875, and 1887;
Whereas the Congregational Church (now known as the United Church of Christ),
through its American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
sponsored and sent more than 100 missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii
between 1820 and 1850;
Whereas, on January 14, 1893, John L. Stevens (hereafter referred to in this
Resolution as the ``United States Minister''), the United States
Minister assigned to the sovereign and independent Kingdom of Hawaii
conspired with a small group of non-Hawaiian residents of the Kingdom of
Hawaii, including citizens of the United States, to overthrow the
indigenous and lawful Government of Hawaii;
Whereas, in pursuance of the conspiracy to overthrow the Government of Hawaii,
the United States Minister and the naval representatives of the United
States caused armed naval forces of the United States to invade the
sovereign Hawaiian nation on January 16, 1893, and to position
themselves near the Hawaiian Government buildings and the Iolani Palace
to intimidate Queen Liliuokalani and her Government;
Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17, 1893, a Committee of Safety that
represented the American and European sugar planters, descendents of
missionaries, and financiers deposed the Hawaiian monarchy and
proclaimed the establishment of a Provisional Government;
Whereas the United States Minister thereupon extended diplomatic recognition to
the Provisional Government that was formed by the conspirators without
the consent of the Native Hawaiian people or the lawful Government of
Hawaii and in violation of treaties between the two nations and of
international law;
Whereas, soon thereafter, when informed of the risk of bloodshed with
resistance, Queen Liliuokalani issued the following statement yielding
her authority to the United States Government rather than to the
Provisional Government:
``I Liliuokalani, 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 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.''.
Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D. 1893.;
Whereas, without the active support and intervention by the United States
diplomatic and military representatives, the insurrection against the
Government of Queen Liliuokalani would have failed for lack of popular
support and insufficient arms;
Whereas, on February 1, 1893, the United States Minister raised the American
flag and proclaimed Hawaii to be a protectorate of the United States;
Whereas the report of a Presidentially established investigation conducted by
former Congressman James Blount into the events surrounding the
insurrection and overthrow of January 17, 1893, concluded that the
United States diplomatic and military representatives had abused their
authority and were responsible for the change in government;
Whereas, as a result of this investigation, the United States Minister to Hawaii
was recalled from his diplomatic post and the military commander of the
United States armed forces stationed in Hawaii was disciplined and
forced to resign his commission;
Whereas, in a message to Congress on December 18, 1893, President Grover
Cleveland reported fully and accurately on the illegal acts of the
conspirators, described such acts as an ``act of war, committed with the
participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and
without authority of Congress'', and acknowledged that by such acts the
government of a peaceful and friendly people was overthrown;
Whereas President Cleveland further concluded that a ``substantial wrong has
thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as
the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair''
and called for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy;
Whereas the Provisional Government protested President Cleveland's call for the
restoration of the monarchy and continued to hold state power and pursue
annexation to the United States;
Whereas the Provisional Government successfully lobbied the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate (hereafter referred to in this Resolution as the
``Committee'') to conduct a new investigation into the events
surrounding the overthrow of the monarchy.
Whereas the Committee and its chairman, Senator John Morgan, conducted hearings
in Washington, D.C., from December 27, 1893, through February 26, 1894,
in which members of the Provisional Government justified and condoned
the actions of the United States Minister and recommended annexation of
Hawaii;
Whereas, although the Provisional Government was able to obscure the role of the
United States in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, it was
unable to rally the support from two-thirds of the Senate needed to
ratify a treaty of annexation;
Whereas, on July 4, 1894, the Provisional Government declared itself to be the
Republic of Hawaii;
Whereas, on January 24, 1895, while imprisoned in Iolani Palace, Queen
Liliuokalani was forced by representatives of the Republic of Hawaii to
officially abdicate her throne;
Whereas, in the 1896 United States Presidential election, William McKinley
replaced Grover Cleveland;
Whereas, on July 7, 1898, as a consequence of the Spanish-American War,
President McKinley signed the Newlands Joint Resolution that provided
for the annexation of Hawaii;
Whereas, through the Newlands Resolution, the self-declared Republic of Hawaii
ceded sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands to the United States;
Whereas the Republic of Hawaii also ceded 1,800,000 acres of crown, government
and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii, without the consent of or
compensation to the Native Hawaiian people of Hawaii or their sovereign
government;
Whereas the Congress, through the Newlands Resolution, ratified the cession,
annexed Hawaii as part of the United States, and vested title to the
lands in Hawaii in the United States;
Whereas the Newlands Resolution also specified that treaties existing between
Hawaii and foreign nations were to immediately cease and be replaced by
United States treaties with such nations;
Whereas the Newlands Resolution effected the transaction between the Republic of
Hawaii and the United States Government;
Whereas the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their claims
to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their national lands
to the United States, either through their monarchy or through a
plebiscite or referendum;
Whereas, on April 30, 1900, President McKinley signed the Organic Act that
provided a government for the territory of Hawaii and defined the
political structure and powers of the newly established Territorial
Government and its relationship to the United States;
Whereas, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th State of the United States;
Whereas the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people is intrinsically
tied to their deep feelings and attachment to the land;
Whereas the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii over the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries have been devastating to the population
and to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people;
Whereas, the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, develop and
transmit to future generations their ancestral territory, and their
cultural identity in accordance with their own spiritual and traditional
beliefs, customs, practices, language, and social institutions;
Whereas, in order to promote racial harmony and cultural understanding, the
Legislature of the State of Hawaii has determined that the year 1993
should serve Hawaii as a year of special reflection on the rights and
dignities of the Native Hawaiians in the Hawaiian and the American
societies;
Whereas the Eighteenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ in
recognition of the denomination's historical complicity in the illegal
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 directed the Office of the
President of the United Church of Christ to offer a public apology to
the Native Hawaiian people and to initiate the process of reconciliation
between the United Church of Christ and the Native Hawaiians; and
Whereas it is proper and timely for the Congress on the occasion of the
impending one hundredth anniversary of the event, to acknowledge the
historic significance of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii,
to express its deep regret to the Native Hawaiian people, and to support
the reconciliation efforts of the State of Hawaii and the United Church
of Christ with Native Hawaiians: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND APOLOGY.
The Congress--
(1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893,
acknowledges the historical significance of this event which
resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the
Native Hawaiian people;
(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation
initiated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of
Christ with Native Hawaiians;
(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people
of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and
citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the
rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;
(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the
ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in
order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between
the United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and
(5) urges the President of the United States to also
acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom
of Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the
United States and the Native Hawaiian people.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Joint Resolution, the term ``Native Hawaiian''
means any individual who is a descendent of the aboriginal people who,
prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now
constitutes the State of Hawaii.
SEC. 3. DISCLAIMER.
Nothing in this Joint Resolution is intended to serve as a
settlement of any claims against the United States.
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