[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.