Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sara Day. In our last podcast,
Speaker 1: we talked about Kama the Great and the formation of
Speaker 1: the monarchy, and we may have mangled a few Hawaiian pronunciation,
Speaker 1: certainly pronounced our vowels thoroughly. But how did it all end?
Speaker 1: And why is a far flung island grouping in the
Speaker 1: middle of the Pacific Estate. That's what we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about today. And we're going to go back to
Speaker 1: a point we mentioned in the earlier podcast and actually
Speaker 1: a point we mentioned in a podcast a long time
Speaker 1: ago on bread Fruit and the mutiny on the Bounty,
Speaker 1: And that's Captain Cook's arrival in Hawaii, and that marks
Speaker 1: the beginning of a century of westernization in the islands.
Speaker 1: And we have explorers arriving, traders and venturers all coming
Speaker 1: to wait. And we also have some stuff that fundamentally
Speaker 1: changes the the life of people on the island by
Speaker 1: livestock and frame houses, Protestant and Catholic religion, taverns, written language. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's not until the middle of the nineteenth century
Speaker 1: that European and American interests really start to exert a
Speaker 1: pretty large amount of control over the islands, and the
Speaker 1: white interest centers around business, and it's mostly sugar trade stuff,
Speaker 1: and these business interests gradually forced the monarchy to transform
Speaker 1: to give up power. Like bit by bit, it goes
Speaker 1: on for a long time, but by eighteen forty eight,
Speaker 1: King kama may Have the Third allows the Great Mahale,
Speaker 1: which is the division of lands, to take place, and
Speaker 1: this allows people to own private property. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a really great example too of fundamental life changes
Speaker 1: for native Hawaiians. At the time, Hawaii was still certainly
Speaker 1: its own country, but there are loads of different foreign
Speaker 1: nations exerting influence in the islands. It's not just the
Speaker 1: United States, and in fact, the US is pretty disenchanted
Speaker 1: with the idea of possibly annexing the islands. When King
Speaker 1: Kamomea the Third secretly petitions the government to make it happen,
Speaker 1: and he's met with a very definitive reply from Secretary
Speaker 1: of State Daniel Webster. No power ought to take possession
Speaker 1: of the islands as a conquest or colonization. But by
Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies that's starting to change a bit, and
Speaker 1: US dominance in Hawaii is becoming very obvious. It's taking
Speaker 1: precedents to other countries dominance. And this is really proven
Speaker 1: by the Reciprocity Treaty, which allowed for free trade of
Speaker 1: sugar to behind its states and in return the right
Speaker 1: for America to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 1: So it was a very good deal for these sugar
Speaker 1: merchants in Hawaii because they could do all their trading
Speaker 1: and not have to pay a bunch of tariffs on it.
Speaker 1: The eighteen seventy five treaty had been supported by Hawaii's
Speaker 1: new king, David Klako, but the businessman didn't quite trust
Speaker 1: him because he was building up the royalty, you know,
Speaker 1: constructing a palace and reviving Hawaiian traditions that had been
Speaker 1: forced underground, like the hula. So in eighteen eighty nine,
Speaker 1: the Honolulu Rifles, a group of white troops, forced him
Speaker 1: to ratify a new constitution known as the Bayonet Constitution,
Speaker 1: which strips his powers, loads his cabinet with white businessmen,
Speaker 1: and limits the voting rights of natives. So now to vote,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be a citizen, but you have
Speaker 1: to own property and make more than six hundred dollars
Speaker 1: a year, so this disenfranchises most Hawaiian natives. But this
Speaker 1: is the state of the country when colakue sister Lilo
Speaker 1: Kolani takes the throne in eight and she was born
Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty eight. She was the third of ten
Speaker 1: children born to a high chief, and you was adopted
Speaker 1: at birth and educated very well at the Royal School,
Speaker 1: which was run by American missionaries, and she was even
Speaker 1: given a Christian name. Lydia marries a white man, John
Speaker 1: Owen Dominos, who later becomes an island governor. So just
Speaker 1: to give you some background on her, she's very intelligent,
Speaker 1: she's very well educated, and she's been thoroughly schooled and
Speaker 1: how to be a modern, dignified lady. But she doesn't
Speaker 1: ever really forget her Hawaiian background. She continues to speak
Speaker 1: the native language, she likes to practice native customs. She's
Speaker 1: aware of her heritage. And while she hadn't had much
Speaker 1: experience governing, she had already proven herself more loyal to
Speaker 1: her people than business interests. She had been left in
Speaker 1: charge for a time in one when her brother went
Speaker 1: on an international journey, and when an epidemic of smallpox
Speaker 1: struck the island, which was ultimately traced to Chinese labors.
Speaker 1: She responded by shutting down the port. Businessmen completely freaked out,
Speaker 1: but she stood her ground, and when she becomes queen,
Speaker 1: it's no surprise that she immediately starts looking for a
Speaker 1: way to overturn the unfair Bayonet Constitution. But there's another
Speaker 1: really important economic development that's going on around the same
Speaker 1: time that seals Hawaii's fate, and that's the revocation of
Speaker 1: the free and favored entry status for the sugar exports.
Speaker 1: So in with the passing of the McKinley tariff, sugar
Speaker 1: growers can no longer make these huge profits they've been
Speaker 1: used to. They don't have this completely free trade with
Speaker 1: the US anymore, and it causes a recession on the island. Hey,
Speaker 1: then would it perhaps be easier for them, Sarah, if
Speaker 1: Hawaii were part of the United State, Yes, it certainly would.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't have tariffs if you too were part of
Speaker 1: the United States. So the sugar growers are starting to think,
Speaker 1: let's get Hawaii annexed. In eighteen nine three, the Queen
Speaker 1: is ready to introduce her new constitution and fearing trouble.
Speaker 1: Her advisors have her hold back a few days, but
Speaker 1: trouble is brewing. You know, the businessmen aren't pleased that
Speaker 1: Lilioakolani is unwilling to be cowed, and they're making plans
Speaker 1: to form the Committee on Annexation and overthrow her. And
Speaker 1: the perfect opportunity for this comes January eighteen, when four
Speaker 1: boats of U. S. Marines with guns disembark in Honolulu.
Speaker 1: So you have all of these troops now who might
Speaker 1: support this American lead uprising. So a hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: two troops marched through Honolulu streets toward the palace, and
Speaker 1: the queen watches from her balcony. The next day, she
Speaker 1: surrenders at gunpoint and seeds control to the island's wealthy
Speaker 1: white sugar growers, who are going to form this temporary government.
Speaker 1: So we have a bloodless coup and Sanford Dole, as
Speaker 1: in Old Pineapples, establishes a temporary government and petitions the
Speaker 1: US to annex Hawaii with the Committee on Annexation. He
Speaker 1: claims the government is corrupt and that they're trying to
Speaker 1: advance democracy, and he's supported by the U. S. Minister
Speaker 1: to Hawaii, John Stevens. Next, Stevens recognizes the new government
Speaker 1: and proclaims Hawaii a U. S. Protectorate, all without the
Speaker 1: permission of the U. S. State Department. Crazy. I still
Speaker 1: can't get over that part. But Benjamin Harrison, whose president,
Speaker 1: is game with all this, even though it is defying
Speaker 1: any kind of structure order, and he signs the Treaty
Speaker 1: of Annexation and sends it to the Senate. But wait,
Speaker 1: but we have had an election by this point, and
Speaker 1: before the Senate can ratify the treaty, we get a
Speaker 1: new president, Grover Cleveland, who withdraws the treaty for the
Speaker 1: purpose of reexamination. So Cleveland appoints James Blount to investigate
Speaker 1: what actually had then, and Blunt finds that Stevens had
Speaker 1: acted improperly obviously, and there's no reason that American flag
Speaker 1: should be flying over Hawaiian government buildings, and also decides
Speaker 1: we need to restore the queen. What happened was wrong.
Speaker 1: So Sandford Dole, however, is not willing to let go.
Speaker 1: And he says, no, I'm not going to give power
Speaker 1: back to the queen. And he argues that the US
Speaker 1: has no right to interfere with what's going on in Hawaii,
Speaker 1: so he's extremely defiant. The new American Minister under President Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Albert S. Willis, offers the crown back to the queen
Speaker 1: on the condition that she pardoned those who dethroned her.
Speaker 1: She says no and then changes her mind, but the
Speaker 1: delay compromises her position and Cleveland releases the entire issue
Speaker 1: to Congress for debate. So annexationists lobby Congress against the
Speaker 1: restoration of the monarchy. They ultimately vote to censure Stevens
Speaker 1: for his disobedience, but they're still pretty open to the
Speaker 1: idea of annexation, and the United States won't move to
Speaker 1: help the queen in any way. So on July fourth,
Speaker 1: the provisional government proclaims Hawaii is a republic, and Sanford
Speaker 1: Dole declares himself president without a vote, and we've got
Speaker 1: some nerves, he really does, and pineapples and the new
Speaker 1: Republic of Hawaii is immediately recognized by the US. So
Speaker 1: we go from this limbo limbo state where they're hoping
Speaker 1: that they'll become part of the United States, to actually
Speaker 1: being a republic their their own country. But it's a
Speaker 1: country ruled by businessmen. The queen has not lost hope.
Speaker 1: She still has faith that Cleveland will restore her to
Speaker 1: the throne, and she retains her title but no power. Eventually,
Speaker 1: her supporters try to rise up for her what when
Speaker 1: some are found on the beach with a shipment of guns,
Speaker 1: her house is searched and more weapons are found in
Speaker 1: her garden. She's held captive in the palace for months
Speaker 1: and eventually gives up her title on January with the
Speaker 1: promise that her arrested supporters wouldn't be killed. Most are anyway,
Speaker 1: and native Hawaiians are very very much against the takeover.
Speaker 1: Don't think otherwise. I ran into some accounts about I
Speaker 1: don't even think I learned about this really in US history,
Speaker 1: but I ran into some accounts saying that it's glossed
Speaker 1: over oftentimes and that it's taught like Hawaiians really wanted
Speaker 1: to become part of the That was not the case. Um.
Speaker 1: So they're staging rallies and forming men's and women's groups
Speaker 1: against annexation. Their princess and the heir to the throne
Speaker 1: actually goes to New York and d C. She's fresh
Speaker 1: from nine years of boarding school in England, so she's
Speaker 1: very charming and eloquent and she wins a lot of
Speaker 1: hearts and minds. She speaks to the newspaper men and
Speaker 1: gives them the idea of that um The Hawaiians are
Speaker 1: nothing like what they've been led to believe. She even
Speaker 1: meets with the President, but it's not enough to really
Speaker 1: make things happen. The Republican Party platform in the election
Speaker 1: of eighteen ninety six is very pro annexation, so when
Speaker 1: their candidate McKinley is inaugurated in March, it's really no
Speaker 1: surprise that he restarts the process. He and three representatives
Speaker 1: from the Republic of Hawaii sign a treaty of annexation
Speaker 1: and submitted to the Senate. So the men's and women's
Speaker 1: groups in Hawaii swing into action. They order a mass
Speaker 1: petition and between September and October collect twenty one two
Speaker 1: d sixty nine signatures, and that's of thirty nine thousand
Speaker 1: Native Hawaiians. And they also sent four delegates to d
Speaker 1: C with the petition. And the Queen is already there
Speaker 1: lobbying and preparing a strategy. And the delegation meets with
Speaker 1: the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on
Speaker 1: December nine, and the senator reads the text of the
Speaker 1: petition to the Senate, it's formally accepted, so yeah, the
Speaker 1: roots work really good work here. And the next day
Speaker 1: the delegates meet with the Secretary of State and formally
Speaker 1: protest annexation. And from there they go crazy lobbying all
Speaker 1: sorts of senators trying to oppose this as furiously as
Speaker 1: they can. And by the time they leave on February,
Speaker 1: only forty six senators are willing to vote for annexing Hawaii,
Speaker 1: so they've really made a huge difference because that is
Speaker 1: not enough for a two thirds majority, So the treaty
Speaker 1: is defeated. But February, the USS Main blows up in
Speaker 1: the Havannah Harbor, the Spanish American War starts, some of
Speaker 1: which takes place in the Philippines, and now we need
Speaker 1: a mid Pacific fueling station and naval base. So pro
Speaker 1: annexation groups decide to resubmit the proposal, playing up the
Speaker 1: fears of war and the possibility that the Japanese will
Speaker 1: do it first. This time it's a joint resolution, which
Speaker 1: requires a simple majory already instead of that two thirds majority,
Speaker 1: and the Newlands Resolution passes and is signed into law
Speaker 1: by McKinley in Hawaii is now part of the United States,
Speaker 1: and Cleveland actually later wrote of this, I am ashamed
Speaker 1: of the whole affair. So this was not something that
Speaker 1: everyone in the United States was celebrating. And back in Hawaii,
Speaker 1: obviously everyone who supported the royal family is in deep mourning.
Speaker 1: Um The queen and her air focused on trying to
Speaker 1: secure voting rights for the people now that they are
Speaker 1: part of the United States. And the queen also writes
Speaker 1: songs for the rest of her life, something that she
Speaker 1: did before as well. But she was really good at
Speaker 1: blending Native Hawaiian and Western styles together, and her most
Speaker 1: famous song is a loh Hallway and she's also responsible
Speaker 1: for writing one of Hawaii's national anthems. So the queen
Speaker 1: lived a long time. We bid goodbye to her in
Speaker 1: November eleventh, nineteen seventeen, at the age of seventeen nine,
Speaker 1: but she didn't live long enough to see statehood for Hawaii,
Speaker 1: which didn't come until nineteen fifty nine, and that of
Speaker 1: course gave people living in Hawaii full rights as American citizens.
Speaker 1: And we have one more little note on this. In
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, a sovereignty movement started in Hawaii, and
Speaker 1: some people wanted a restoration of the monarchy. Others wanted
Speaker 1: some sort of reparations. Some people wanted Hawaii to become
Speaker 1: its own nation, and others wanted Hawaii to have the
Speaker 1: native people at least received the same sort of federal
Speaker 1: recognition that Native Americans received. Queen Lilia Wokelani's story obviously
Speaker 1: inspired this movement, but it also one our respect and admiration,
Speaker 1: and that is the story of the last Queen of Hawaii,
Speaker 1: which brings us to our listener mail. So our first
Speaker 1: email is from Suzanne, and I love just the subject
Speaker 1: of her email. It's breadfruit, yummy acclamation point. But she
Speaker 1: was writing in regard to our episode on bread fruit
Speaker 1: and the mutiny on the Bounty, and she wrote to
Speaker 1: tell us that she's originally from Jamaica and breadfruit was
Speaker 1: something that her mother would make all the time, and
Speaker 1: she gave us a little bread fruit recipe tip. She
Speaker 1: said her mother would cut off the skin and roast
Speaker 1: it on a grill over an open flame, then wrap
Speaker 1: it and foil to keep the moisture in. Then the
Speaker 1: following day she would cut it up into wedges, lightly salted,
Speaker 1: and then fry it, and she said it was normally
Speaker 1: served as breakfast with fish or boiled white yams, or
Speaker 1: bananas or Johnny cakes, and uh, sometimes a big slice
Speaker 1: of pear, which is what we call avocados in Jamaica, which,
Speaker 1: as I thought, was great. So thanks for sending us
Speaker 1: your recipe, Seasanne. And we have another recipe from Liz,
Speaker 1: who said, I'm a few days away from finishing my
Speaker 1: Peace Corps service in Guiana, South America, and we have
Speaker 1: bread fruit here. Every time I see them in the market,
Speaker 1: I smiled to myself, thinking about all the trouble they
Speaker 1: getting to the Caribbean. You asked for breadfruit recipes, and
Speaker 1: this is what I found in the Peace Corp Giana cookbook.
Speaker 1: It's for bread fruit puffs and it's one bread fruit,
Speaker 1: two tablespoons of butter, two shallots chopped, one egg, bread
Speaker 1: crumbs and oil for frying. And you boil and mash
Speaker 1: the bread fruit while hot, add butter, shallots and onions, mix,
Speaker 1: add eggs and beat well. Roll the mixture into balls
Speaker 1: and toss in your bread crumbs and fry it in
Speaker 1: hot oil. So if anyone gives this a try, please
Speaker 1: let us know and we would like a picture. I
Speaker 1: also found a recipe or actually a collection of recipes
Speaker 1: on Smithsonian for all sorts of bread fruit. I didn't
Speaker 1: even think to check Food Network. We might have to
Speaker 1: post that one on our Twitter or something. We also
Speaker 1: had a correction. I think Sarah's got that one. We did.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure what we said originally. We're guessing
Speaker 1: probably the Scioto River. Something wrong. We won't we won't
Speaker 1: relive the longness, but the correct pronunciation is Sciota or
Speaker 1: maybe even si o two. So, and that was our two.
Speaker 1: Come to the podcast if you have any corrections to
Speaker 1: send us or delicious historical recipes. Our email is History
Speaker 1: Podcast at how stuff works dot com. You can also
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at missed in History, or join
Speaker 1: our Facebook fan page or we'll keep you updated on
Speaker 1: what we're working on, and as always, please feel free
Speaker 1: to check out our homepage at www dot how stuff
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