You've probably heard Hawaii's state song, "Aloha Oe." But did you know it was written by Hawaii's last queen?
Her name was Liliuokalani. Born in 1838, the daughter of high chief Kapaakea, she was adopted by Abner Paki, an advisor to King Kamehameha III. She received a European-style education and learned to speak fluent English. For a time she was engaged to a member of the royal family, Prince Lunalilo, who eventually became Hawaii's king. In 1862 she married an American man, John Owen Dominis, but it apparently was not a happy marriage, and they had no children.
After the death of King Lunalilo, the Hawaiian legislature chose Liluokalani's birth brother Kalakaua as Hawaii's new king. He enjoyed travelling and living the high life, and during his long absences Liliuokalani served as Hawaii's regent. The king died in 1891 while visiting San Francisco, and Liliuokalani became queen. (Her husband became governor of Oahu and Maui, but died just seven months into her reign.)
The new queen's motto was "Hawaii for the Hawaiians," and her attempts to return power to the hands of native Hawaiians did not sit well with the white foreigners who largely controlled the kingdom. In 1893 a group of Americans led by Sanford Dole deposed the queen and claimed Hawaii in the name of the United States.
"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," the queen said in a statement. "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."
The queen had her supporters, including President Grover Cleveland, who was appalled by what had happened. He refused to annex Hawaii, and in 1894 it became a republic with Sanford Dole as its president. There was a native uprising the following year, but it was quickly quelled. The government raided Liliuokalani's palace and found guns buried in the garden. Although she said she knew nothing about the weapons, she was arrested, tried, and convicted of misprision of treason.
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