Queen Liliʻuokalani: How American-backed businessmen overthrew Hawaii’s last sovereign

In 1891, Liliʻuokalani became queen of a sovereign Hawaiian kingdom. She inherited a monarchy whose independence was already being undermined by foreign commercial interests and by a constitution imposed under pressure on her predecessor. She set out to restore authority to the Hawaiian people and their monarchy.

In January 1893, a group of businessmen and politicians opposed to her government overthrew her. The involvement of the American minister and the landing of US Marines helped create the conditions in which the coup succeeded. The precise legal responsibilities have been argued over ever since; President Grover Cleveland condemned the overthrow, but he did not restore her.

Her supporters attempted to regain power in 1895. Liliʻuokalani was placed under house arrest and ultimately relinquished her claim to the throne under coercive circumstances. The United States annexed Hawaii in 1898, ending the possibility of an independent restoration in the immediate future.

This was not the conquest of a territory without institutions or political aspirations. Hawaii had its own constitutional government, diplomatic relationships and population whose sovereignty was overridden. The last queen was also a composer and writer whose music preserved an emotional record of a kingdom that lost its independence.

Her photograph from 1891 shows a sovereign conscious of her office. The question the image raises is why the immense political power of investors and foreign governments so often appears in history books as an impersonal force of progress.

Sources and illustration

Library of Congress, photograph of Queen Liliʻuokalani. This post uses an authentic period photograph, engraving, archival illustration or related primary document for its featured image—not an AI reconstruction. The image is framed for wide homepage display.

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