Committee of Safety (Hawaii)
.jpg) The Committee of Safety | |
| Formation | 1887 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 1893 (succeeded by Provisional Government) |
| Type | Secret society |
| Purpose | Overthrow of the government of Hawaii, annexation by the United States |
| Location |
|
Membership | Elite business and political leaders |
Official language | English |
Unofficial leader | Lorrin A. Thurston |
Main organ | Committee of Thirteen, Committee of Safety |
| Affiliations | Honolulu Rifles |
The Committee of Safety, formally the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, was a 13-member group of the Annexation Club. The group was composed of mostly Hawaiian subjects of American descent and American citizens who were members of the
Formation
 |
The Committee of Safety originated from a leadership group when members of the Missionary Party began to run as Independent Party candidates. For the elections of 1884 the Missionary Party strictly ran all candidates as Independent Party candidates. To ensure that Missionaries were on the Independent ticket the "Committee of Nine" was formed January 14, 1883, to assume the leadership position of the Independent Party. The Committee of Nine were staunchly loyal to the Missionary Party, having social and economic philosophies that reflected the Missionary values. The Independent Party won 13 seats and was the minority party in the Hawaii legislature. For the following elections of 1886 the committee reconvened, this time calling themselves the "Committee of Thirteen" due to the change in members. Their intent was to make the Independent Party the majority party in the legislature. At the end of the elections the Independents won ten seats, a net loss of three seats.
Hawaiian League
In January 1887 the Committee of Thirteen formed a
The Hawaiian League came into control of the Honolulu Rifles. Made of about 200 armed local (non-native) men, who fought under the command of enthusiastic annexationist Volney V. Ashford.[4]: 352–353 In June 1887, the Hawaiian League used the Rifles to force
Overthrow
The precipitating event[4]: 582 leading to the overthrow was the attempt by Queen Liliʻuokalani to promulgate a new constitution which would have strengthened the power of the monarch relative to the legislature in which Euro-American business elites held disproportionate power, a political situation that was a direct result of the 1887 constitution. The conspirators' stated goals were to depose the queen, overthrow the monarchy, and seek Hawaii's annexation to the United States.[4]: 353, 587–88
On January 16, the Marshal of the Kingdom
The Revolution ignited on January 17 when a policeman was shot and wounded while trying to stop a wagon carrying weapons to the Honolulu Rifles. The Committee of Safety feared the shooting would bring government forces to rout out the conspirators and stop the coup before it could begin. The Rifles garrisoned
As these events were unfolding, the Committee of Safety expressed concern for the safety and property of American residents in Honolulu. United States Government Minister
The Committee of Safety issued the following proclamation, read aloud on January 17 by its chairman
"First – The Hawaiian monarchial system of government is hereby abrogated.
Second – A Provisional Government for the control and management of public affairs and the protection of public peace is hereby established, to exist until terms of union with the United States of America have been negotiated and agreed upon".
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The Hawaiian League unofficially adopted the
International response
During the overthrow, the Japanese Imperial Navy gunboat Naniwa was docked at Pearl Harbor. The gunboat's commander,
Every government with a diplomatic presence in Hawaii recognized the Provisional Government within 48 hours of the overthrow, including the United States, although the recognition by the United States government and its further response is detailed in the section above on "American Response". Countries recognizing the new Provisional Government included Chile, Austria-Hungary, Mexico, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium, China, Peru, and France.[10] When the Republic of Hawaii was declared on July 4, 1894, immediate recognition was given by every nation with diplomatic relations with Hawaii, except for Britain, whose response came in November.[11]
Members of the committees
Committee of Nine
- Joseph B. Atherton
- William R. Castle
- Sanford B. Dole
- William W. Hall (1841–1910) Business partner of his printer father Edwin Oscar Hall[12]
- James A. Hopper (1831–1900)[13]
- Peter C. Jones
- Henry W. Mist (1833–1895)[14]
- John H. Paty
- William O. Smith
Committee of Thirteen
- Joseph B. Atherton
- Jonathan Austin
- William H. Bailey
- William R. Castle
- Benjamin F. Dillingham
- Sanford B. Dole
- Henry F. Glade (1883–1894) German consul to Hawaii[15]
- William W. Hall
- Peter C. Jones
- Thomas May
- John H. Paty
- Lorrin A. Thurston
- George N. Wilcox
Committee of Safety
Six Hawaiian subjects, five American citizens, a German subject, and a British subject signed the January 16 letter:[16][17]
Hawaiian Kingdom subjects:
- Crister Bolte, naturalized Hawaiian subject[18] of German birth, member
- William Richards Castle, Hawaiian subject, born in Honolulu 1849, attorney general for Kalākaua 1876, Hawaiian legislator 1878–88, member
- Chairman Henry Ernest Cooper, American citizen who arrived in 1890, denizen of the Kingdom,[19]named chairman at mass meeting January 14, 1893
- William Owen Smith, Hawaiian subject, born on Kauaʻi 1838 of American missionaries, member
- Lorrin A. Thurston, Hawaiian subject, born in Hawaii of American grandparents, member
- Henry Waterhouse, naturalized Hawaiian subject[20] of Tasmanian birth, came to Hawaiʻi 1851, member
- William C. Wilder, naturalized Hawaiian subject,[20] brother of Samuel Gardner Wilder, member
Non-subject Members:
- Andrew Brown, Scottish, member
- John Emmeluth, American citizen, member
- Theodore F. Lansing, American citizen, member
- John A. McCandless, American citizen, member
- Frederick W. McChesney, American citizen, member
- Edward Suhr, German citizen, member
Others who assisted in the overthrow:
- Charles L. Carter, American, naturalized Hawaiian subject, member, son of 1895 counter-revolution
- Samuel Mills Damon, Hawaiian subject with American parents, vice president of Provisional Government
- Sanford B. Dole, Hawaiian subject with American parents, selected to head Provisional Government and Republic
- Peter Cushman Jones, American, naturalized Hawaiian subject, provisional government minister of finance
- James A. King, Scottish, named minister of interior
See also
- 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii
- Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom
- Provisional Government of Hawaii
- Republic of Hawaii
- Territory of Hawai'i
References
- doi:10.2307/1837915
- S2CID 212795443.
- from the original on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1.
- ^ Twombly, Alexander (1900). Hawaii and its people. Silver, Burdett and company. p. 333.
- ^ Kinzer, S. (2006) America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. p. 30. [Minister Stevens] "certainly overstepped his authority when he brought troops ashore, especially since he knew that the 'general alarm and terror' of which the Committee of Safety had complained was a fiction."
- ISBN 0-945636-43-1.
- ^ Westervelt, William Drake, "Hawaiian Historical Legends", Forgotten Books Easy Reading Series, 2008.
- ^ The Morgan Report, p1106-1107, "The receipt of your communication, dated the 17th instant, inclosing a copy of proclamation issued on the same day, informing me that for reasons set forth in said proclamation the Hawaiian monarchy has been abrogated and a Provisional Government established, which is now in possession of the Government departmental buildings, the archives, and the treasury, and requesting me on behalf of H. I. J. M.'s Government to recognize said Provisional Government as the de facto Government of the Hawaiian Islands, pending the receipt of instructions from H. I. J. M.'s Government, to whom advices of your action and of the position which I have taken in relation thereto have been despatched."
- ^ The Morgan Report, p 1103-1111
- ISBN 0-87081-417-6. "The provisional government, whatever its faults, had had little difficulty in obtaining recognition, even from Cleveland, and it was not considered likely that the republic would have any foreign problems. Recognition came even more quickly than it had in 1893, for at least there was no question of a revolution's having taken place or of the government's control of the domestic situation."
- ^ "In Memoriam, William W. Hall". The Hawaiian Star. June 1, 1910.
- ^ "Body Comes on Sierra-James A. Hopper". The Hawaiian Gazette. December 21, 1900.
- ^ "Death of Captain Henry Wentworth Mist - Newspapers.com". The Independent. October 25, 1895.
- ^ "Death of Henry F. Glade Occurs in Fatherland". The Honolulu Advertiser. January 29, 1902.
- ^ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1894.
WHO WERE THE PARTIES THAT ASKED FOR AMERICAN AID. Six of them were Hawaiians, one English, and one German; five were Americans, but residents of Honolulu; a majority alien to us.
- S2CID 212795443.
- ^ "Hawaiian Kingdom - Registry of Naturalized Subjects - B". www.hawaiiankingdom.org. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
- ^ "Hawaiian Kingdom – Registry of Denizens (c. 1840–1893)". www.hawaiiankingdom.org. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
- ^ a b "Hawaiian Kingdom – Registry of Naturalized Subjects – W". www.hawaiiankingdom.org. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
Further reading
- Collins, Stephen (2014). Taking Hawaii : How Thirteen Honolulu Businessmen Overthrew the Queen of Hawaii in 1893, With a Bluff. OCLC 874921510.
- OCLC 2387226.
- OCLC 607514169.
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| History of Hawaii | |
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