Misplaced Pages

#158841

77-507: The Blount Report "first provided evidence that officially identified the United States' complicity in the lawless overthrow of the lawful, peaceful government of Hawaii." Blount concluded that U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens had carried out unauthorized partisan activities, including the landing of U.S. Marines under a false or exaggerated pretext, to support the anti-royalist conspirators; that these actions were instrumental to

154-460: A Republican expansionist, was only a few weeks from the end of his term. The new Provisional Government of Hawai'i immediately delivered a treaty of annexation to President Harrison, who referred it favorably to the Senate for ratification on February 15, 1893. Grover Cleveland , a Democrat opposed to expansionism and colonialism, became President on March 4, 1893 and withdrew the treaty from

231-742: A "lawyer's brief, making the best possible case for the queen and against Stevens", while the Morgan Report "presented an equally effective case for the Provisional Government and Stevens, and against the Queen." A common critique of the Morgan Report is that there was no majority opinion, and that three separate minority opinions existed – Morgan's, the Republicans' and the Democrats'. It is often argued that only Morgan signed

308-518: A Committee of Safety; it shepherded documents drafted to establish a provisional government. The Committee of Safety expressed concern for the safety and property of American residents in Honolulu. Minister Stevens, advised about these supposed threats to non-combatant American lives and property by the Committee of Safety, obliged their request and summoned a company of uniformed U.S. Marines from

385-434: A Democrat), clearly indicate their minority dissent, signing their four names as "Members of Minority". Even though they dissented in regards to whether Minister Stevens should have been censured, they still held the U.S. troops blameless, noting that they remained scrupulously neutral throughout their time ashore: On the other hand, we are not inclined to censure Capt. Wiltse, commanding the United States war-ship Boston , or

462-554: A blistering letter decrying Cleveland's interference. Unbeknownst to Willis, on the same day he demanded President Dole to step down, December 18, Cleveland had already given up convincing the Queen to grant amnesty, and sent a message to Congress declaring the revolution improper and decrying the U.S. involvement in it, referring the matter to their authority. In response, the Senate passed a resolution empowering its Foreign Relations Committee to hold public hearings under oath, and cross-examine witnesses, to investigate U.S. involvement in

539-505: A commissioner to the Islands to assess the situation, who reported that the newly established protectorate be withdrawn as unnecessary. Envoy Stevens immediately resigned and returned to Maine, where he spent his time in public denunciation of the new administration's Hawaiian policy. The Blount Report commissioned by President Grover Cleveland was submitted on July 17, 1893, and found Stevens guilty of inappropriate conduct in support of

616-446: A few people involved in the instigation and carrying out of the revolution. He took no testimony from the officers and enlisted men of USS  Boston ." He delivered a report to President Cleveland on July 17, 1893, claiming improper U.S. backing for the revolution had been responsible for its success, and that the Provisional Government lacked popular support. On the basis of Blount's report, President Cleveland began working towards

693-486: A minister's career in the Universalist church, which he served as pastor for a decade, becoming a leader in the anti-slavery movement. (Stevens later became a firm opponent of capital punishment, and as a Maine State Senator urged the legislature to abolish the death penalty). After a decade as an activist Universalist minister, Stevens was persuaded by his lifelong friend Maine Governor Anson P. Morrill to give up

770-632: A strange volume of part memoir, part travelogue and part political tract meant to provide a rationale for his actions in the Islands. During his life, Stevens authored several other books, including a two-volume biography of Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus and his involvement in the Thirty Years War , praised by The New York Times as showing "extensive research and much patient reading." The prolific Stevens also authored assorted letters, speeches and tracts, many of them advocating his Manifest Destiny views on American foreign policy. Stevens

847-545: A very partial and unfair way... to aid the annexationists and injure the President."." Walter Q. Gresham , Cleveland's Secretary of State, said that Morgan was "insincere and meant mischief." Historian R.S. Kuykendall wrote that "nevertheless, the Morgan hearings did commit to the record the testimony of many participants in the revolution who had been neglected by Blount." Morgan, a Democrat like Cleveland but sympathetic with

SECTION 10

#1732773187159

924-400: Is formally named " Senate Report No. 227 " of the 53rd Congress , second session, and dated February 26, 1894. It was printed as part of a large volume containing other government documents: "Reports of Committee on Foreign Relations 1789–1901 Volume 6." The Blount Report had concluded that the U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens carried out unauthorized partisan activities, including

1001-618: Is one of the main source documents compiling the testimony of witnesses and participants in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in January 1893. The Morgan Report was the final result of an official U.S. Congressional investigation into the overthrow, conducted by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations , whose chairman was Senator John Tyler Morgan , Democrat of Alabama . The Report

1078-545: Is still owned by Stevens's descendants. The tea service, and the career of its controversial owner, were the subject of a Public Broadcasting Service documentary in 1998 entitled The Nation Within . A one-act play entitled "Cry for the Gods" was written by Judge Paul Handy which presents a dramatized, fictional meeting between Stevens and the Queen on the night of January 16, 1893. It has been performed in Maryland and as part of

1155-570: The Boston and two companies of U.S. sailors to land on the Kingdom and take up positions in strategic locations in Honolulu on the afternoon of January 16, 1893. 162 sailors and Marines aboard the Boston came ashore well-armed but under orders of neutrality. They were positioned around Royal residences and Hawaiian government installations, not around United States citizens' quarters. Having observed

1232-611: The Canadian Pacific Railway in 1886. Seeking to capitalize on the new transcontinental link in Canada , British capitalists were said to welcome the addition of the Hawaiian Islands as an English protectorate. For aggressive Manifest Destiny advocates like Stevens, the telegraphing of English intentions – even by diplomatic innuendo – signaled the need for a preemptive American response. At

1309-532: The Republican Party in Maine and served as Maine State Senator . John Leavitt Stevens was born in 1820 in the town of Mount Vernon , Kennebec County, Maine , to Capt. John Stevens and Charlotte (Lyford) Stevens. He was a lifelong resident of Augusta in the same county, except for his time away at school and his later diplomatic service. Stevens attended Maine Wesleyan Seminary to prepare for

1386-468: The 1970s. Although the Morgan Report was planned to be digitized by the University of Hawaii as part of a collection of annexation documents in 2001, only the pro-sovereignty Blount Report was completed. The library's project ended in 2002 and no further grants were applied for; it is also understood that a devastating flood in 2004 caused significant setbacks for their program. The project narrative for

1463-570: The 2002 grant application to digitize documents, including the Morgan Report said, "The materials selected however are not one-sided. The Morgan Report challenges the Blount Report, which implicated the United States in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy." It was not until volunteers outside of the University of Hawaii took on the task of digitizing the Morgan Report that it was made available online in 2006. Since its online publication,

1540-517: The Blount and Morgan Reports are cited by partisans on both sides to support their claims about the legitimacy or lack thereof of the overthrow. In 1993, Congress passed and the President signed an Apology Resolution apologizing for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii a century before. Based on the Blount Report and other historical analyses, the Resolution subsequently became a touchstone in

1617-614: The Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC. Morgan Report The Morgan Report was an 1894 report concluding an official U.S. Congressional investigation into the events surrounding the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom , including the alleged role of U.S. military troops (both bluejackets and marines) in the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani . Along with the Blount Report submitted in 1893, it

SECTION 20

#1732773187159

1694-445: The Committee of Safety, and some questions may have been slanted to build a case for restoration of the queen. Blount delivered his report to President Cleveland on July 17, 1893 claiming improper U.S. backing for the overthrow had been responsible for its success, and concluded that the Provisional Government lacked popular support. On the basis of Blount's report, President Cleveland dismissed Stevens and began to secretly work towards

1771-410: The Committee of Safety, which should be called the Committee of Annexation, would have never existed. But for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts respecting the danger to life and property the committee would never have exposed themselves to the pains and penalties of treason by undertaking the subversion of the Queen's Government. But for the presence of the United States forces in

1848-412: The Hawaiian kānaka ʻōiwi for a person of Hawaiian descent. Many native Hawaiians consider this white appropriation of the term to be a racial slur. The use of the word kanaka in the report allowed Morgan to redefine the term Hawaiian to refer to the geographical, rather than the historical, inhabitants, thus creating a literary deceit that disassociated native Hawaiians from Hawaii. Others note that

1925-497: The Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 when he conspired to overthrow Queen Liliuokalani in association with the Committee of Safety , led by Lorrin A. Thurston and Sanford B. Dole – the first Americans attempting to overthrow a foreign government under the auspices of a United States government officer. Apart from his work as a politician and diplomat, he was also a journalist, author, minister and newspaper publisher. He founded

2002-610: The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the Provisional Government of Hawaii immediately sent a treaty of annexation to the expansionist President Benjamin Harrison , who referred it favorably to the Senate for ratification on February 15, 1893. When Grover Cleveland , an anti-expansionist, became President less than three weeks later, he withdrew the treaty from the Senate and appointed former Representative James Henderson Blount as special representative to investigate

2079-548: The Hawaiian overthrow Stevens helped engineer – and an event said to have sent the diplomat into crippling depression. Hon. John L. Stevens died at his home in Augusta, Maine, at 4 a.m. on February 8, 1895, of heart disease. In 1898 the United States government officially annexed Hawaii. A seven-piece silver service made of melted silver dollars and given to Stevens after his Hawaiian tenure by pro-Annexation forces in Hawaii

2156-469: The Kingdom government with the Republic. The nine-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee that submitted the report could not agree on a final conclusion, and the oft-cited executive summary was signed only by Morgan himself. Other Republican members of the Committee, including Senators Sherman, Frye, Dolph, and Davis, generally agreed with the report, but refused to endorse the actions of Blount (who

2233-677: The Morgan Investigation were picked to make out the best possible case for annexation. Under the guidance of Lorrin Thurston and W. D. Alexander, Morgan made the case against the queen and for annexation. The earlier Blount report did not interview members of the Committee of Safety, and their testimony as well as other evidence put forth during the Morgan Committee hearings contradicted the assertions Blount had made in hist report. Kuykendall described Blount's report as

2310-494: The Pacific. That night, Stevens and American-Hawaiian businessmen Sanford Dole and Lorrin Thurston met to hatch "an audacious plot to overthrow Hawaii's Queen and bring her country into the United States," writes New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer in his book Overthrow . The immediate event which precipitated the meeting was Queen Lili'uokalani's attempt to promulgate a new constitution which would have restored many of

2387-592: The Queen's nationalist sympathies. He asked that a United States warship, the USS ; Boston be stationed indefinitely in Honolulu harbor . In March 1892 envoy Stevens wrote to United States Secretary of State James G. Blaine , his old newspaper partner, asking how far he might deviate from standard State Department rules if a native revolutionary movement emerged. "The golden hour is near at hand," Stevens later wrote his old partner and friend Blaine. "So long as

Blount Report - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-493: The Queen. In a letter, Dole vehemently refused Cleveland's demand. The same day, President Cleveland delivered a message to Congress declaring the overthrow improper, calling it "an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress." But for the notorious predilections of the United States Minister for Annexation (John L. Stevens),

2541-426: The Republicans who joined Morgan, a Democrat, in the rest of the majority opinion. The four Republicans stated their assent to the initial section of the report with the following statement: We are in entire accord with the essential findings in the exceedingly able report submitted by the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. The four Democrats who disagreed with the four Republicans, and with Morgan (again,

2618-411: The Senate on March 9, 1893. James Henderson Blount , a Democrat, had been chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs during Harrison's term. On March 11, without seeking confirmation from the Senate (though it was in session at the time), President Cleveland appointed Blount to be a special envoy to Hawaiʻi with "paramount" powers and secret instructions to investigate the circumstances of

2695-633: The State Department. Soon after his installation in Hawaii, Stevens began writing about the islands, in a steady stream of pamphlets and speeches, including his December 19, 1891, speech delivered at Founder's Day celebrations of the Kamehameha School, entitled Advice to Young Hawaiians , and his later The Hawaiian Situation tract, written with Eugene Chamberlain and William Springer. Envoy Stevens had gone on-the-record about his Manifest Destiny views concerning close allies of

2772-480: The United States Department of State and was appointed successively minister to Paraguay , Uruguay , Sweden and Norway , and finally to Hawaii , an appointment pushed by his old partner Blaine, who had risen to United States Secretary of State . When Stevens was named to the Hawaiian post, his title was changed to Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary, indicating his rise within

2849-403: The United States a spotless slate." Cleveland left office and was replaced by pro-annexation President William McKinley in 1897. Hawaii was annexed to the United States the following year. In 1993, Congress passed and the President signed an Apology Resolution apologizing for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii a century before. Based on the Blount Report, other historical analyses, and

2926-407: The United States. On February 9, 1893, Stevens acted preemptively, establishing a protectorate pending negotiations for annexation. On February 16, President Harrison sent a message to the Senate, formally requesting annexation of the Hawaiian kingdom. But President Cleveland, immediately following his inauguration, sent a message to the Senate, canceling all further talk of annexation. He then sent

3003-493: The United States. Presumably his views reflected those of his former partner, friend, sponsor and now boss at the State Department. In 1881, James G. Blaine had written of the necessity of "drawing the ties of intimate relationship between us and the Hawaiian Islands so as to make them practically a part of the American system without derogation of their absolute independence." Constitutional reforms in Hawaii in 1887 had widened

3080-425: The University of Hawaii has maintained a link to the website where the report is published alongside their other annexation documents. The Morgan Committee was chaired by Senator John Tyler Morgan of Jim Crow political fame. An Alabama Review article written by Thomas Upchurch states that Morgan wanted to find Black southerners a new homeland. Throughout the report, Morgan used the term kanaka , derived from

3157-537: The affair in hand. In commending this subject to the extended powers and wide discretion of the Congress, I desire to add the assurance that I shall be much gratified to cooperate in any legislative plan which may be devised for the solution of the problem before us which is consistent with American honor, integrity and morality. At the time the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown , President Benjamin Harrison ,

Blount Report - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-481: The claims of Hawaiian sovereignty activists, the Resolution subsequently became a touchstone in the cultural identification of Hawaiians, as well as for the growing Hawaiian sovereignty movement who seek self-government similar to that of Native Americans and Alaskan peoples. John L. Stevens John Leavitt Stevens (August 1, 1820 – February 8, 1895) was the United States Minister to

3311-409: The committee also filed a report. They refused to censure Blount and Willis; they placed the blame higher up. And at the end, not a single item for future action was recommended in the report. Towards the end of the main findings section, there is a break after the primary report, followed by a minor disagreement over the constitutionality of Blount's appointment and actions, and then the signatures of

3388-505: The conspiracy to overthrow Hawaii's Queen. Answering the charges from his Augusta, Maine , home, Stevens supplied his rationale: the Queen was immoral, and so needed to be dethroned. The later Morgan investigation conducted by the U.S. Congress , which led to the Morgan Report on February 26, 1894, found Stevens and other U.S. agents not guilty, after which Cleveland abandoned the matter because of lack of Congressional support. Both

3465-731: The cultural and political identification of many native Hawaiians. Following his forced retirement in 1893 because of the overthrow of Hawaii, Stevens spent his time lecturing and writing and working in Republican Party circles. He died two years later. During his retirement, Stevens worked to rehabilitate his image following his humiliating firing by the new President. In 1894, the former preacher and newspaper editor published Picturesque Hawaii: A Charming Description of Her Unique History, Strange People, Exquisite Climate, Wondrous Volcanoes, Luxurious Productions, Beautiful Cities, Corrupt Monarchy, Recent Revolution and Provisional Government ,

3542-557: The development of Maine's Republican Party. Stevens also played a large role in the 1876 Presidential campaign when he served as Chairman of the Republican State Committee of Maine. He stumped in the states of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania for the Republican Presidential ticket that year, which won him an appointment as a minister representing the United States government. Stevens joined

3619-654: The events surrounding the overthrow. As special envoy to Hawaii with paramount powers to investigate the circumstances of the revolution and the stability of the Provisional Government, Blount made himself accessible. He obtained testimony from interviews, letters, affidavits, and other documents, including the "Statement of the Hawaiian Patriotic League" and "Memorial on the Hawaiian Crises" , but did not have subpoena power. However, one historian has noted that Blount did not interview members of

3696-542: The expansionist Republicans, seemed to have a vested interest in exonerating both Stevens' actions during the Hawaiian Revolution, as well as Blount's appointment by Cleveland without Congressional approval. Historian W.A. Russ noted, "It seems that the Chairman had two purposes in mind: first, to gainsay everything the Blount Report had asserted; second, to clear the name of every American official and to give

3773-527: The following conclusions: A minority report by the four Republicans criticized Blount's appointment and activities. A minority report by four of the Democrats criticized Minister Stevens for his actions. All the Senators exonerated the actions of the U.S. military. Broken down by topic, the votes were as follows: The Morgan Report has been treated with a significant amount of skepticism by pro-sovereignty academics, and has largely been glossed over since

3850-524: The gulf between foreign businessmen and native Hawaiian nationalists. In January 1891 the Hawaiian King, who had been sympathetic to the interests of the foreign businessmen, died while on a visit to the United States. He was succeeded by his sister, the Princess, who was crowned Queen Lili'uokalani . The new Queen was known to dislike the restrictive constitution of 1887, and envoy Stevens suspected

3927-520: The immediate vicinity and in position to afford all needed protection and support, the committee would not have proclaimed the provisional government from the steps of the Government building.... But for the lawless occupation of Honolulu under false pretexts by the United States forces ... the Queen and her government would have never yielded. Liliʻuokalani's delay in accepting the terms of her restoration and Dole's flat refusal made Cleveland turn over

SECTION 50

#1732773187159

4004-586: The investigation conducted by the Morgan Committee, and the Senate's Turpie Resolution of May 31, 1894, he never again questioned the legitimacy of the overthrow. In his last bit of resistance to accepting the overthrow, Cleveland managed to get the wording for the Turpie Resolution changed to refer to the "people" rather than the "Provisional Government", although the net effect was still a complete renunciation of his hopes to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani to power. The majority report submitted contained

4081-484: The islands retain their own independent government there remains the possibility that England or the Canadian Dominion might secure one of the Hawaiian harbors for a coaling station." Added Stevens: "Annexation excludes all dangers of this kind." The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it. The question had taken on significance after the completion of

4158-433: The landing of U.S. Marines under a false or exaggerated pretext, to support the anti-royalist conspirators and that these actions were instrumental to the success of the overthrow of the queen. The Morgan Report contradicted the Blount Report, finding all individuals involved in the overthrow – with the notable exception of Queen Liliʻuokalani – "not guilty". The Native Hawaiians Study Commission Report of 1993, commenting on

4235-541: The loss of life" for her subjects and after some deliberation, at the urging of advisers and friends, the Queen ordered her forces to surrender. The Honolulu Rifles took over government buildings, disarmed the Royal Guard, and declared a Provisional Government. Minister Stevens recognized the new government, giving his blessing on behalf of the United States Department of State, and commissioners were immediately dispatched to Washington to request that Hawaii be annexed by

4312-490: The matter should be referred to the broader authority and discretion of Congress, with a full explanation of the endeavor thus far made to deal with the emergency and a statement of the considerations which have governed my action... ...I therefore submit this communication with its accompanying exhibits, embracing Mr. Blount's report, the evidence and statements taken by him at Honolulu, the instructions given to both Mr. Blount and Minister Willis, and correspondence connected with

4389-403: The matter to the Senate. The Senate authorized the Morgan Report which conducted two months of hearings taken from witnesses under oath and carried out under cross examination. The Morgan Report contradicted Blount's conclusions and exonerated the military and Stevens from blame. Senator George Gray of Delaware, Cleveland's chief spokesperson on the subcommittee, said Morgan examined witnesses "in

4466-529: The monarchy in 1887 with a new constitution that would restore power to the throne. American and European resident merchants operating as the Committee of Public Safety responded by forcing Liliʻuokalani from power and proclaiming a provisional government. During the overthrow, the American Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens ordered the landing of U.S. Marines from the USS  Boston in Honolulu , ostensibly to protect lives and property. After

4543-594: The officers of that vessel. Their position was one of extreme delicacy and difficulty, and we appreciate their anxiety to afford protection to the lives and property of American citizens. The force of United States marines of the Boston with their ordinary arms stationed at the American legation, and at the consulate in Honolulu, would have effectually represented the authority and power of the United States Government, and would have afforded whatever protection American interests might have required; and at

4620-465: The powers of the monarchy that existed prior to the forced promulgation of the " Bayonet Constitution " in 1887 that reduced the power of the Hawaiian monarch and rescinded voting rights to much of the population. The Queen's cabinet refused to go along with the planned new constitution, and Queen Liliʻuokalani temporarily yielded. But to the ardent Annexationists the volatile situation provided an opportunity that they seized. The Annexation Club morphed into

4697-515: The pulpit and become a newspaper publisher and politician. Stevens took his friend Morrill's advice, left the ministry and became a newspaper editor and publisher before becoming a Maine delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention . Six years prior, in 1854, Stevens and his partner James G. Blaine had purchased the newspaper The Kennebec Journal in Augusta, where the pair collaborated for 14 years on editing their publication and pushing

SECTION 60

#1732773187159

4774-537: The racist bigotry of Chairman Morgan, although widespread at the time, does not necessarily invalidate the evidence gathered during the hearings, especially considering that Morgan was just one of nine senators conducting the investigation. Yet his vote was the deciding factor in the 5–4 decision of whether Stevens acted lawfully. Morgan Report critics note that Morgan did not visit Hawai`i before issuing his Morgan Report and instead held hearings in Washington, D.C., which, in effect, eliminated any Hawaiian representation of

4851-474: The reign of law and respect for orderly government in Hawaii." In July 1889, there was a small scale rebellion, and Minister Merrill landed Marines to protect Americans; the State Department explicitly approved his action. Merrill's replacement, minister John L. Stevens, read those official instructions, and followed them in his controversial actions of 1893. On January 14, 1893, envoy Stevens met with two other men concerned about American territorial interests in

4928-464: The report in its entirety. Hawaiian historian Ralph Kuykendall characterized it this way: In the end, the majority of the Senate committee on foreign relations found everyone 'not guilty' save the queen, although only Morgan, who wrote the final report, agreed with all parts of it. The Democrats on the committee supported Blount and Willis, imputed the blame to Stevens for his 'inopportune zeal,' and found him deserving of public censure. The Republicans on

5005-452: The restoration of Liliʻuokalani and the constitutional monarchy, conditional upon amnesty to those responsible for the overthrow. The new Minister to Hawaii Albert Willis was unable to persuade the Queen to grant amnesty to the Committee of Public Safety, in return for the throne until December 18. Following this, Willis, acting on behalf of Cleveland, ordered provisional government President Sanford Dole to dissolve his government and restore

5082-415: The restoration of the Queen, conditional upon amnesty towards those responsible for the overthrow. Minister Willis was unable to convince the Queen to grant the Committee of Safety amnesty in return for the throne until December 18, 1893, at which point Willis, on behalf of Cleveland, then ordered Hawai'i President Sanford Dole to dissolve the Provisional Government and restore the Queen. Dole flatly refused in

5159-450: The revolution and the stability of the Provisional Government. Blount held secret, informal conversations with royalists and annexationists in Honolulu. He invited certain witnesses to sit with him to give formal statements in the presence of a stenographer, to be published later in the Blount Report. These statements were not under oath, and several of them were recanted when made public. Historian Ernest Andrade wrote, "He interviewed only

5236-448: The revolution, and also to investigate whether it had been proper for President Cleveland to appoint Blount and give him extraordinary powers to represent the U.S. and intervene in Hawaiʻi without Senate confirmation. The final result of this investigation is the Morgan Report, submitted on February 26, 1894. The Turpie Resolution of May 31, 1894, which was protested by Queen Liliʻuokalani,

5313-520: The royalist position. James Henderson Blount represented the royalist position well in his Blount Report, which was nearly exclusively royalist, and by his own testimony in front of the committee. Senator George Gray was particularly anti-annexationist, and brought forward witnesses with testimony critical of the Provisional Government. Of the total of nine senators, four Republicans and three Democrats indicated their support for annexation. According to Hawaii historian Ralph Kuykendall , witnesses in

5390-451: The success of the revolution; and that the revolution was carried out against the wishes of a majority of the population of Hawaii. The Blount Report was followed in 1894 by the Morgan Report , which contradicted Blount's report by concluding that all participants except for Queen Liliʻuokalani were "not guilty". In January 1893, Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi threatened to replace the " Bayonet Constitution " that had been forced upon

5467-529: The time of the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 Grover Cleveland was president, and his secretary of state Thomas F. Bayard sent written instructions to the American minister George W. Merrill that in the event of another revolution in Hawaii, it was a priority to protect American commerce, lives and property. Bayard specified, "the assistance of the officers of our Government vessels, if found necessary, will therefore be promptly afforded to promote

5544-483: The troops' march up the street, the Queen was heard to remark that the Marines were finishing what the "missionaries" started. The presence of the Marines served effectively in intimidating royalist defenders. Historian William Russ states, "the injunction to prevent fighting of any kind made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself." Due to the Queen's desire "to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps

5621-621: The two competing reports, states: "The truth lies somewhere between the two reports." The Morgan Report's submission in 1894 roughly coincided with the Turpie Resolution , which terminated Cleveland's efforts to restore the Queen. Cleveland accepted the conclusions of the Morgan Report, continued to engage in diplomatic relations with the Provisional Government, recognized the Republic of Hawaii upon its declaration on July 4, 1894, and even negotiated treaties originally ratified under

5698-496: Was a direct result of the Morgan Report. The Turpie Resolution ended all hope of the Queen for further intervention on her behalf. Cleveland accepted the verdict of the Congressional committee, abandoned efforts to reinstate the Queen, and treated the Provisional Government and Republic of Hawaiʻi as the internationally recognized lawful successors of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Despite his strong words of December 18, 1893, after

5775-419: Was appointed by President Cleveland, a Democrat). Democratic Senators Turpie, Butler, Daniel, and Gray did not endorse the approval of Minister Stevens' actions; while Butler and Turpie generally approved annexation, they refused to endorse the Morgan Report's conclusions because of the implications for internal disorder in Hawaii. Gray and Daniel were apparently outright opposed to annexation. The Morgan Report

5852-621: Was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Tufts College in 1882. American author and orientalist William Elliot Griffis dedicated his book America in the East to Stevens, who, Griffis wrote, "believing that the lives and property of American citizens abroad ought to be as well protected as if they were at home, acting according to his faith." John L. Stevens was married to the former Mary Lowell Smith of Hallowell, Maine , on May 10, 1845. The couple had one son and three daughters, one of whom drowned on January 20, 1893 – three days after

5929-485: Was the final result of Cleveland's referral of the matter of the overthrow to Congress. Cleveland from the Blount Report: Though I am not able now to report a definite change in the actual situation, I am convinced that the difficulties lately created both here and in Hawaii and now standing in the way of a solution through Executive action of the problem presented, render it proper, and expedient, that

#158841