Committee of Safety (Hawaii)

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, 1893, 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.

In January 1887 the Committee of Thirteen formed a secret society called the Hawaiian League. No official records were kept, but Lorrin A. Thurston (the grandson of American missionaries Asa Thurston and Lorrin Andrews) drafted the group's constitution. The group was headed by an executive committee of lawyers and businessmen mostly of non-aboriginal non-indigenous naturalized United States citizens. Membership grew through the year, including some German and British citizens, and a few part-Hawaiians. Although the politicians changed the name of their party from "Missionary" to "Reform", many wanted to become part of the United States, not just reform the monarchy.[4]^{: 347–350} This was why the Hawaiian League was also called the Annexation Club, although not often in public.

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 King Kalākaua to enact the Bayonet Constitution which limited his power. After Queen Liliʻuokalani came to power in 1891, she attempted to restore power to the throne. This caused the group to act again.

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 Charles B. Wilson was tipped off to the imminent planned coup. Wilson requested warrants to arrest the 13-member Committee of Safety, and put the Kingdom under martial law. Because the members had strong political ties with United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, the requests were repeatedly denied, fearing if approved, the arrests would escalate the situation. After a failed negotiation with Thurston,[5] Wilson began to collect his men for the confrontation. Wilson and Captain of the Royal Household Guard, Samuel Nowlein, had rallied a force of 496 men who were kept at hand to protect the Queen.

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 Ali'iolani Hale across the street from ʻIolani Palace and waited for the Queen's response.

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 John L. Stevens, advised about these supposed threats to non-combatant American lives and property[6] by the Committee of Safety, obliged their request and summoned a company of uniformed U.S. Marines from the USS Boston and two companies of U.S. sailors to land on the Kingdom and take up positions at the U.S. Legation, Consulate, and Arion Hall on the afternoon of January 16, 1893. 162 sailors and marines aboard the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor came ashore well-armed but under orders of neutrality. The sailors and marines did not enter the Palace grounds or take over any buildings, and never fired a shot, but their presence served to intimidate royalist defenders. Historian William Russ states, "the injunction to prevent fighting of any kind made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself."[7] Due to the Queen's desire "to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps 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.

The Committee of Safety issued the following proclamation, read aloud on January 17 by its chairman Henry E. Cooper to a large crowd assembled in front of the royal residence ʻIolani Palace:[8]

"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".

Executive council of the Provisional Government (left to right): James A. King, Sanford B. Dole, W. O. Smith and P. C. Jones

The Hawaiian League unofficially adopted the American Flag to appeal to the US and promote annexation. The flag was raised over ʻIolani Palace by Stevens on January 17, 1893. The flag was eventually lowered by James H. Blount that April for spreading a false presumption that the US had taken control.

During the overthrow, the Japanese Imperial Navy gunboat Naniwa was docked at Pearl Harbor. The gunboat's commander, Heihachiro Togo, who later commanded the Japanese battleship fleet at Tsushima, refused to accede to the Provisional Government's demands that he strike the colors of the Kingdom, but later lowered the colors on order of the Japanese Government. Along with every other international legations in Honolulu, the Japanese Consulate-General, Suburo Fujii, quickly recognized the Provisional Government as the legitimate successor to the monarchy.[9]

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]

• 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii
• Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom
• Provisional Government of Hawaii
• Republic of Hawaii
• Territory of Hawai'i

• Collins, Stephen (2014). Taking Hawaii : How Thirteen Honolulu Businessmen Overthrew the Queen of Hawaii in 1893, With a Bluff. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-4976-3808-2. OCLC 874921510.
• Liliuokalani (1898). Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliuokalani. Boston: Lee and Shepard. ISBN 978-0-548-22265-2. OCLC 2387226.
• Twigg-Smith, Thurston (1998). Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter?. Honolulu: Goodale Pub. ISBN 978-0-9662945-0-7. OCLC 607514169.

Part of a series on the
History of Hawaii
Early history (pre–1795) Discovery and settlement c. 1219–1266 Battle of Kealakekua Bay 1779
Hawaiian Kingdom (1795–1893) Kamehameha dynasty 1795–1874 Unification of Hawaii 1810 Laplace affair 1839 Paulet affair 1943 French invasion of Honolulu 1849 American Civil War 1861–1865 Kalākaua dynasty 1874–1893 Reciprocity Treaty 1875 Bayonet Constitution 1887 Rebellions and revolutions 1887–1895 Overthrow 1893
Provisional (1893–1894) Leper War on Kauaʻi 1893 Black Week 1893–1894
Republic of Hawaii (1894–1898) Counter-Revolution 1895 Annexation 1898
Territory of Hawaii (1898–1959) Hawaiian Organic Act 1900 Oahu sugar strike 1920 Hanapēpē Massacre 1924 Massie Trial 1932 World War II 1939–1945 Attack on Pearl Harbor 1941 Niihau incident 1941 Honouliuli Internment Camp 1943–1946 Democratic Revolution 1954
State of Hawaii (1959–present) Hawaii Admission Act 1959 Kalama Valley protests 1971 State Constitutional Convention 1978 Xerox murders 1999 Occupation of Iolani Palace 2008 Honolulu molasses spill 2013 TMT protests 2014–now False missile alert 2018 Hurricane Lane 2018 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–now George Floyd protests 2020 Red Hill water crisis 2021–now Hawaii wildfires 2023
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