"Living on the Crust of a Volcano" : The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the United States' Involvement

Abstract

The overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy took place on January 17, 1893. One of the debates surrounding this event is the involvement of the United States through its representative, Minister John L. Stevens. 1874-1894 was an unstable period in Hawaii. This paper discusses the reign of King Kalakaua (1874-1891), the economic relationship between Hawaii and the United States after the Reciprocity Treaty of 1876, the Revolution of 1887 that resulted in a new constitution, the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893, and the United States investigation of the events through the Blount Report and the Morgan Report. It shows that the United States was not a conspirator in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and that it was the result of the process of imperialism.