[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 19 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.J.Res. 19
                       One Hundred Third Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three


                            Joint Resolution

  
 
  To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow 
of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on 
behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Whereas, prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in 1778, the Native 
  Hawaiian people lived in a highly organized, self-sufficient, 
  subsistent social system based on communal land tenure with a 
  sophisticated language, culture, and religion;
Whereas a unified monarchical government of the Hawaiian Islands was 
  established in 1810 under Kamehameha I, the first King of Hawaii;
Whereas, from 1826 until 1893, the United States recognized the 
  independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and complete 
  diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Government, and entered into 
  treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian monarchs to govern commerce 
  and navigation in 1826, 1842, 1849, 1875, and 1887;
Whereas the Congregational Church (now known as the United Church of 
  Christ), through its American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
  Missions, sponsored and sent more than 100 missionaries to the Kingdom 
  of Hawaii between 1820 and 1850;
Whereas, on January 14, 1893, John L. Stevens (hereafter referred to in 
  this Resolution as the ``United States Minister''), the United States 
  Minister assigned to the sovereign and independent Kingdom of Hawaii 
  conspired with a small group of non-Hawaiian residents of the Kingdom 
  of Hawaii, including citizens of the United States, to overthrow the 
  indigenous and lawful Government of Hawaii;
Whereas, in pursuance of the conspiracy to overthrow the Government of 
  Hawaii, the United States Minister and the naval representatives of 
  the United States caused armed naval forces of the United States to 
  invade the sovereign Hawaiian nation on January 16, 1893, and to 
  position themselves near the Hawaiian Government buildings and the 
  Iolani Palace to intimidate Queen Liliuokalani and her Government;
Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17, 1893, a Committee of Safety 
  that represented the American and European sugar planters, descendents 
  of missionaries, and financiers deposed the Hawaiian monarchy and 
  proclaimed the establishment of a Provisional Government;
Whereas the United States Minister thereupon extended diplomatic 
  recognition to the Provisional Government that was formed by the 
  conspirators without the consent of the Native Hawaiian people or the 
  lawful Government of Hawaii and in violation of treaties between the 
  two nations and of international law;
Whereas, soon thereafter, when informed of the risk of bloodshed with 
  resistance, Queen Liliuokalani issued the following statement yielding 
  her authority to the United States Government rather than to the 
  Provisional Government:
    ``I Liliuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of 
the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and 
all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the 
Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a 
Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.
    ``That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America 
whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has 
caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that 
he would support the Provisional Government.
    ``Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss 
of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my 
authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, 
upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives 
and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional 
Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.''.
    Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D. 1893.;
Whereas, without the active support and intervention by the United 
  States diplomatic and military representatives, the insurrection 
  against the Government of Queen Liliuokalani would have failed for 
  lack of popular support and insufficient arms;
Whereas, on February 1, 1893, the United States Minister raised the 
  American flag and proclaimed Hawaii to be a protectorate of the United 
  States;
Whereas the report of a Presidentially established investigation 
  conducted by former Congressman James Blount into the events 
  surrounding the insurrection and overthrow of January 17, 1893, 
  concluded that the United States diplomatic and military 
  representatives had abused their authority and were responsible for 
  the change in government;
Whereas, as a result of this investigation, the United States Minister 
  to Hawaii was recalled from his diplomatic post and the military 
  commander of the United States armed forces stationed in Hawaii was 
  disciplined and forced to resign his commission;
Whereas, in a message to Congress on December 18, 1893, President Grover 
  Cleveland reported fully and accurately on the illegal acts of the 
  conspirators, described such acts as an ``act of war, committed with 
  the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States 
  and without authority of Congress'', and acknowledged that by such 
  acts the government of a peaceful and friendly people was overthrown;
Whereas President Cleveland further concluded that a ``substantial wrong 
  has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as 
  well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor 
  to repair'' and called for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy;
Whereas the Provisional Government protested President Cleveland's call 
  for the restoration of the monarchy and continued to hold state power 
  and pursue annexation to the United States;
Whereas the Provisional Government successfully lobbied the Committee on 
  Foreign Relations of the Senate (hereafter referred to in this 
  Resolution as the ``Committee'') to conduct a new investigation into 
  the events surrounding the overthrow of the monarchy;
Whereas the Committee and its chairman, Senator John Morgan, conducted 
  hearings in Washington, D.C., from December 27, 1893, through February 
  26, 1894, in which members of the Provisional Government justified and 
  condoned the actions of the United States Minister and recommended 
  annexation of Hawaii;
Whereas, although the Provisional Government was able to obscure the 
  role of the United States in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian 
  monarchy, it was unable to rally the support from two-thirds of the 
  Senate needed to ratify a treaty of annexation;
Whereas, on July 4, 1894, the Provisional Government declared itself to 
  be the Republic of Hawaii;
Whereas, on January 24, 1895, while imprisoned in Iolani Palace, Queen 
  Liliuokalani was forced by representatives of the Republic of Hawaii 
  to officially abdicate her throne;
Whereas, in the 1896 United States Presidential election, William 
  McKinley replaced Grover Cleveland;
Whereas, on July 7, 1898, as a consequence of the Spanish-American War, 
  President McKinley signed the Newlands Joint Resolution that provided 
  for the annexation of Hawaii;
Whereas, through the Newlands Resolution, the self-declared Republic of 
  Hawaii ceded sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands to the United 
  States;
Whereas the Republic of Hawaii also ceded 1,800,000 acres of crown, 
  government and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii, without the 
  consent of or compensation to the Native Hawaiian people of Hawaii or 
  their sovereign government;
Whereas the Congress, through the Newlands Resolution, ratified the 
  cession, annexed Hawaii as part of the United States, and vested title 
  to the lands in Hawaii in the United States;
Whereas the Newlands Resolution also specified that treaties existing 
  between Hawaii and foreign nations were to immediately cease and be 
  replaced by United States treaties with such nations;
Whereas the Newlands Resolution effected the transaction between the 
  Republic of Hawaii and the United States Government;
Whereas the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their 
  claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their 
  national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy or 
  through a plebiscite or referendum;
Whereas, on April 30, 1900, President McKinley signed the Organic Act 
  that provided a government for the territory of Hawaii and defined the 
  political structure and powers of the newly established Territorial 
  Government and its relationship to the United States;
Whereas, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th State of the United 
  States;
Whereas the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people is 
  intrinsically tied to their deep feelings and attachment to the land;
Whereas the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii over the 
  nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been devastating to the 
  population and to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people;
Whereas the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, develop 
  and transmit to future generations their ancestral territory, and 
  their cultural identity in accordance with their own spiritual and 
  traditional beliefs, customs, practices, language, and social 
  institutions;
Whereas, in order to promote racial harmony and cultural understanding, 
  the Legislature of the State of Hawaii has determined that the year 
  1993 should serve Hawaii as a year of special reflection on the rights 
  and dignities of the Native Hawaiians in the Hawaiian and the American 
  societies;
Whereas the Eighteenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ in 
  recognition of the denomination's historical complicity in the illegal 
  overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 directed the Office of the 
  President of the United Church of Christ to offer a public apology to 
  the Native Hawaiian people and to initiate the process of 
  reconciliation between the United Church of Christ and the Native 
  Hawaiians; and
Whereas it is proper and timely for the Congress on the occasion of the 
  impending one hundredth anniversary of the event, to acknowledge the 
  historic significance of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of 
  Hawaii, to express its deep regret to the Native Hawaiian people, and 
  to support the reconciliation efforts of the State of Hawaii and the 
  United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APOLOGY.

    The Congress--
        (1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal 
    overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, acknowledges 
    the historical significance of this event which resulted in the 
    suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian 
    people;
        (2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated 
    by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with Native 
    Hawaiians;
        (3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of 
    the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on 
    January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of 
    the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native 
    Hawaiians to self-determination;
        (4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of 
    the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order to provide a proper 
    foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the 
    Native Hawaiian people; and
        (5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge 
    the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and to 
    support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the 
    Native Hawaiian people.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Joint Resolution, the term ``Native Hawaiian'' means 
any individual who is a descendent of the aboriginal people who, prior 
to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now 
constitutes the State of Hawaii.

SEC. 3. DISCLAIMER.

    Nothing in this Joint Resolution is intended to serve as a 
settlement of any claims against the United States.







                                Speaker of the House of Representatives.







                             Vice President of the United States and    
                                                President of the Senate.