On Jan. 17, 1893, Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. The coup led to the dissolving of the Kingdom of Hawaii two years later, its annexation as a U.S. territory and eventual admission as the 50th state in the union.
The first European contact with Hawaii was made in 1778 by Capt. James Cook. In the 19th century, traders and missionaries came to the islands from Europe and the United States. They often opposed the Hawaiian monarchy, favoring instead a British-style constitutional monarchy where the monarch held little power.
In 1874, David Kalakaua became king and sought to reduce the power of the white Missionary Party (later Reform Party) in the government. In 1887, angered by King Kalakaua’s extravagant spending and his attempts to dilute their power, a small group of Missionary Party members, known as the Hawaiian League, struck back against the king.
Led by Lorrin A. Thurston and Sanford B. Dole, the Hawaiian League drafted a new constitution that reduced the power of the king and increased the power of the cabinet and Legislature. It also extended voting rights to wealthy noncitizens, while excluding Asians and restricting access for native Hawaiians through land-owning and literacy provisions. Backed by a militia, the group used the threat of violence to force King Kalakaua to sign the constitution, which became known as the Bayonet Constitution.
King Kalakaua died in 1891 and was succeeded by his sister, Liliuokalani, who proposed a new constitution that would restore powers of the monarchy and extend voting rights for native Hawaiians. The queen’s actions angered many of Hawaii’s white businessmen, who formed a 13-member Committee of Safety with the goal of overthrowing the monarchy and seeking annexation by the United States.
The Jan. 29, 1893 edition of The New York Times recounted the events of the coup. On Jan. 16, Hawaiian Marshal Charles B. Wilson attempted to arrest the committee members and declare martial law, but his attempts were turned down by other government officials who feared violence. The next day, after a police officer was shot and wounded trying to halt the distribution of weapons to the Committee of Safety’s militia, the committee decided to put its coup into action. Near the queen’s ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu, the committee’s militia gathered and were joined by 162 U.S. Marines and Navy sailors who were ordered by John L. Stevens, U.S. Minister to Hawaii, to protect the committee. The queen surrendered peacefully to avoid violence.
The Committee of Safety established a provisional government headed by Mr. Dole. U.S. President Grover Cleveland opposed the provisional government and called for the queen to be restored to power, but the Committee of Safety established the Republic of Hawaii and refused to cede power. In 1895, Hawaiian royalists began a coup against the republic, but it did not succeed. Queen Liliuokalani was arrested for her alleged role in the coup and convicted of treason; while under house arrest, the queen agreed to formally abdicate and dissolve the monarchy.
In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii. Hawaii was administered as a U.S. territory until 1959, when it became the 50th state.
Hawaiian scholar Dr. Keanu Sai has written about the illegality of the U.S. occupation and annexation, citing an 1893 Executive Agreement between President Grover Cleveland and Queen Lili'uokalani. On June 1st, 2010, Sai filed a lawsuit against President Obama on this basis, demanding the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom government.
An Act of War of Aggression: United States Invasion of the Hawaiian Kingdom on August 12, 1898
Jan. 17, 1893 | Hawaiian Monarchy Overthrown by America-Backed Businessmen
Speaking Truth To Power- Investigating The Illegal U.S. Military Occupation Of The Hawaiian Islands 
Meet the native Hawaiians fighting U.S. occupation | AJ+
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- 🐱👤 Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
The Hexbear mastadon should be linked in the Hexbear Twitter. Right now it links to a Hexbear post about the mastadon account, which is useless if you're looking for info while the site is down
Yeah, I was completely lost
yeah, you can still find it by going to a federated instance and looking up a megathread there (I just went to like lemmy.ml/c/history@hexbear.net)
That's a good workaround but still not super accessible, especially if you're not familiar with other instances and their federation status with Hexbear. The only one I'd be able to name 100% off the top of my head is lemmygrad for instance.
is it not linked because elon throws a hissy fit when you link to other platforms?
on the bright side it was easy to find by just searching "hexbear mastodon"
When I search that I get links to Hexbear posts, which of course wouldn't have worked during the downtime. One of them had the mastodon address in the preview text, but that's not guaranteed since different posts may push it out of top results or Google could always change the preview text calculations
wouldn't matter because there was no update on the mastodon
There was.
that's so weird I have the hexbear account open in another tab and it only shows updates through august
Are you just looking at the date on the top post? That's a pinned post so newer posts will be under it.
I know. The last post I see when I'm logged into my mastodon account is from August 24th, below the pinned post.