Marines surrounded the Iolani Palace where the queen lived and forced her abdication.
Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was the last monarch to sit on the Hawaiian throne. Overthrown with the help of U.S. Marines by wealthy white sugar growers who opposed her attempts to strengthen the monarchy and the actions she took to protect her people at the price of their profit, Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned in her palace while the growers requested U.S. annexation. While U.S. President Grover Cleveland ruled that she had been deposed illegally, Congress disagreed. Liliuokalani died in 1917, 24 years after being deposed.
Forced Abdication
The Marines marched on her palace on Jan. 16, 1893. Queen Liliuokalani surrendered the next day at gunpoint. She had to yield her throne to the U.S. governor. In her statement of abdication, she claimed she did so in hopes that when the U.S. government was told the facts, it would restore her. She also said that she abdicated to avoid the loss of life.
Imprisonment
Two years later, on Jan. 16, 1895, she was arrested when a cache of weapons was found on her properties. She was convicted of helping royalists try to restore the monarchy through violent means, though she denied having knowledge of the weapons. She was forced to sign an abdication declaration, giving up all future claims to the throne.
Public Trial
After signing the abdication, Queen Liliuokalani was put on public trial in her throne room. The court was run by a military tribunal and first sentenced her to five years of hard labor, but later changed that to house imprisonment in the Iolani palace. She was also fined $5,000. She was not allowed any visitors during the imprisonment at the castle except for a single female servant. After her release, she was put under house arrest at her private home for an additional five months and then told she could not leave Oahu. It was another eight months before her civil rights were restored.
Music Composition
During her imprisonment, Queen Liliuokalani spent much of her time composing music. After her abdication, she would compose 165 songs, including five that would become Hawaiian national anthems. Her most famous work was a love song called Aloha `Oe, which remains popular to this day.
Change in Religion
While Queen Liliuokalani had been raised in the Kawaiha'o Church, a Congregational church, she left it after her imprisonment saying that the pastoral staff did not support her during that time nor offer her the spiritual assistance she needed. She was baptized and confirmed into the Episcopal Church on May 18, 1896.
Lawsuits
Liliuokalani continued to petition the United States to rescind the annexation. She also filed a number of lawsuits in an attempt to reclaim royal land. She lost all those suits, but the Hawaiian territorial legislature eventually gave her a pension and allowed her to collect money from the private property of her late brother before he was elected king.
Trust Fund
Liluokalani's will donated her money to the care of Hawaiian orphans and poor children, with preference given to natives. The trust fund is still in operation as the Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center.
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