Was The Annexation Of Hawaii Justified

The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was in the year of 1893 and transpired during the reign of David Kalakaua and Queen Lili’uokalani. During this significant event, many monarchs, royalists, republicans, and revolutionaries were involved, with the exception of the many Hawaiians who had been against the annexation (Pitzer). While talking about annexation, the overthrow had been a key event that led to the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. When Hawaii was still under the reign of King David Kalakaua, he was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution under duress. Queen Lili’uokalani had yielded her throne in order to avoid bloodshed and trusted that the United States government would right the wrong that had been done to her and the Hawaiian people (Pitzer). The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was not justified because a man by the name of John Stevens acted without the consent of the United States government, the Committee of Public Safety had actually been plotting against the queen, and Hawaii’s independence as a nation and its land was taken away.

Stevens, who is the U.S. minister to Hawaii was doing actions without the consent of the United States government. John Stevens had favored annexation and this would obviously foreshadow the fact that he would help the annexationists annex Hawaii to the United States. He had ordered American troops from the U.S.S. Boston to Iolani Palace in support of the Committee of Safety. John had also assured Thurston that he would not protect the queen and that he would land the troops from the Boston if necessary (Pitzer). As he was doing this, he also recognized the Provisional Government after the overthrow. In fact, this very man had done all of these acts without official permission from the U.S., so John Stevens shouldn’t have been allowed to do all the actions he did. This was obviously unjustified since Stevens wasn’t even supposed to do these things that led to the