'ōiwi leadership and aloha 'āina: Responses to the overthrow of Lili'uokalani

This sketch appeared in the Sept. 30, 1897 issue of “The San Francisco Call” and was captioned: “Meeting of Natives at Hilo, Island of Hawaiʻi, Thursday, September 16, 1897 to protest against annexation.”

Jan. 20, 2021

Contributed by KS Hoʻokahua Cultural Vibrancy Group

This mo‘olelo is part of Kūkahekahe – Cultural Conversations – featuring personal experiences and insights from faculty, staff and friends about compelling cultural happenings within the KS organization, throughout the Hawaiian Islands, and across the larger Pacific and global communities.

Queen Lydia Kamakaʻeha Liliʻuokalani was deposed from the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a result of a coup d’etat on January 17, 1893. This year marks the 128th year since the overthrow.

Rather than focus on recounting these illegal actions and the historical ʻeha, trauma, that occurred as a result, we highlight the 1897 campaign to gather signatures on petitions protesting the annexation of Hawaiʻi to the United States, which was led by the Hui Aloha ʻĀina and Hui Kālaiʻāina, two Hawaiian nationalist organizations established by Native Hawaiian political leaders in the aftermath of the overthrow.

American efforts to annex Hawaiʻi to the United States immediately after the overthrow failed. However, on June 16, 1897, William McKinley became the newly elected president of the United States and affirmed articles of annexation of Hawaiʻi in the U.S. Senate.

The members Hui Kālaiʻāina and Hui Aloha ʻĀina sprang into action once news of the latest threat of annexation reached the islands. On September 6, 1897, they held a meeting that was attended by thousands at ʻIolani Palace. Addressing the multitudes, James Kaulia, president of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina, shared his now famous speech:

“No laila, mai makau, e kupaa ma ke Aloha i ka Aina, a e lokahi e ka manao, e kue loa aku i ka hoohui ia o Hawaii me Amerika a hiki i ke aloha aina hope loa!” (“Ke Aloha Aina,” September 11, 1897) Therefore, do not be afraid! Stand firm in love for this land and unify in this thought: vigorously protest the annexation of Hawaiʻi with America until the very last patriot.

Spurred to action and knowing that time was of the essence, members of the hui set out to gather signatures across Hawaiʻi. Their movements were recorded in the nūpepa “Ke Aloha Aina” in an article dated September 18, 1897. Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell and Emma Nāwahī sailed from Honolulu to Hilo on the steamship Kīnaʻu. Enoch Johnson and Simon Peter Kanoa sailed to Maui, and Kaikioewa Ulukou went to Kaua‘i. Signatures were even collected at Kalaupapa, by resident and president of the Kalaupapa chapter of the hui, Robert M. Kaaoao.

Wherever they went in the islands, representatives of the hui were hosted and warmly welcomed. Copies of the petition were left in each place, to be circulated and signed by people who could not come to the meetings.

Between September and October of 1897, the members accomplished what may have seemed impossible. Crisscrossing our pae ʻāina, they travelled hundreds of miles on steamships, horseback, coach and on foot to collect the signatures of their people.

More than 21,000 signatures of individuals opposing annexation were recorded; the great majority of signatures were from Native Hawaiian men and women. Non-Hawaiian citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom and even some children were also signatories. The petitions of Hui Aloha ʻĀina amounted to 556 pages of signatures.

Another set of petitions for the restoration of the monarchy were circulated by the Hui Kālaiʻāina and included 17,000 signatures. Together, more than 38,000 signatures were collected by the hui. Native Hawaiians made up a majority of the population at the time and numbered around 41,000 of a total population of approximately 100,000.

The voices of the lāhui were carried forward through the petitions, which were taken to Washington D.C. and presented to the U.S. Senate by a delegation of four representatives that included James Kaulia, David Kalauokalani, William Auld and John Richardson.

Queen Liliʻuokalani had also traveled to Washington D.C. in June of 1897 to formally lodge her protest with the Senate. These collective efforts and overwhelming evidence of opposition to annexation in Hawaiʻi could not be ignored. Still, the treaty of annexation failed to gain enough votes for ratification and died in the U.S. Senate in March of 1898.

Unfortunately, when the Spanish-American War broke out a short time later, the United States circumvented its own laws, also violating international treaties and custom by passing a joint resolution in the Senate (simple majority vote) instead of a treaty (two-thirds vote).

Hawaiʻi was illegally annexed under these spurious circumstances on July 12, 1898. Despite this, the Hui Aloha ʻĀina and Hui Kālaiʻāina turned their efforts towards ensuring that Native Hawaiians would have civil and political rights in their own homeland, now under the administration of the United States and known as the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

The aloha ʻāina movements of today are rooted in the events recounted in this article, when people across the paeʻāina resisted the loss of our nation’s sovereignty by signing their names on papers carried by the patriots of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina and Hui Kālaiʻāina.

The Kūʻē Anti-Annexation Petitions of 1897 are one of the greatest testaments to the lasting aloha ʻāina of our lāhui. No laila, e kūpaʻa mau kākou ma ke aloha ʻāina; therefore, we continue to stand firm in our love of the land.

LEARN MORE

Visit this special collection of documents curated by the University of Hawaiʻi to search for signatures of your ʻohana on the Hui Aloha ʻĀina petitions of 1897.

In 2020, “Kū‘ē Petitions: A Mau Loa Aku Nō” was published by Kaiao Press, containing all of the petitions and essays about this amazing time in Hawaiian history.

To learn more about expressions of aloha ʻāina in the years following 1893, read this article archived in “Ka Ipu o Lono” from 2015. And check out these great resources (including a lesson plan) about the petitions as well as the work of the Hui and other Hawaiian patriots:

Representatives of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Nā Wahine (Hawaiian Patriot League, Women’s Chapter), 1893.

Representatives of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina o Nā Kāne, 1893.

In 2020, “Kū‘ē Petitions: A Mau Loa Aku Nō” was published by Kaiao Press, containing all of the petitions and essays about this amazing time in Hawaiian history.