SR96.DOC

WHEREAS, on January 17, 1893, over the protest of Queen Lili‘uokalani, head of state of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the diplomatic and military forces of the United States assisted insurrectionists in seizing control of the Hawaiian Kingdom government and establishing a puppet government; and

WHEREAS, on February 14, 1893 in Washington, D.C., the puppet government signed a treaty of cession of the Hawaiian Kingdom to the United States and United States President Harrison submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification; and

WHEREAS, on March 11, 1893, newly elected United States President Cleveland received a protest of Queen Lili‘uokalani from a Hawaiian Kingdom envoy and withdrew the treaty from the Senate; and

WHEREAS, President Cleveland thereafter appointed former Congressman James Blount as a Special Commissioner to investigate the seizure of the Hawaiian Kingdom and to report his findings to the president; and

WHEREAS, the Presidential investigation concluded that the overthrow of the Hawaiian government was illegal under international law and entered into an agreement with Queen Lili‘uokalani that the President would restore the Hawaiian Kingdom government and the Queen would grant amnesty to the insurgents; and

WHEREAS, United States Congress prevented President Cleveland from restoring the Government; and

WHEREAS, Queen Lili‘uokalani and Hawaiian nationals, to their detriment, relied on Cleveland's commitment to restore the Hawaiian Kingdom government; and

WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives subsequently passed a resolution on February 7, 1894 warning other nations "that foreign intervention in the political affairs of the islands will not be regarded with indifference by the Government of the United States"; and

WHEREAS, the United States Senate endorsed this sentiment by passing a resolution on May 31, 1894 "that any intervention in the political affairs of these islands by any other Government will be regarded as an act unfriendly to the United States"; and

WHEREAS, on June 16, 1897, the newly elected President of the United States, William McKinley signed a second treaty of cession in Washington, D.C., with representatives of the self-proclaimed Republic of Hawai‘i, but the proposed treaty remained subject to ratification by the United States Senate; and

WHEREAS, on June 18, 1897, Queen Lili‘uokalani filed a diplomatic protest with the United States State Department in Washington, D.C., stating:

"I, Lili‘uokalani of Hawai‘i, by the will of God named heir apparent on the tenth day of April, A.D. 1877, and by the grace of God Queen of the Hawaiian Islands on the seventeenth day of January, A.D. 1893, do hereby protest against the ratification of a certain treaty, which, so I am informed, has been signed at Washington by Messrs. Hatch, Thurston, and Kinney, purporting to cede those Islands to the territory and dominion of the United States. I declare such a treaty to be an act of wrong toward the native and part-native people of Hawai‘i, an invasion of the rights of the ruling chiefs, in violation of international rights both toward my people and toward friendly nations with whom they have made treaties, the perpetuation of the fraud whereby the constitutional government was overthrown, and, finally, an act of gross injustice to me"; and

WHEREAS, on July 24, 1897, Hawaiian political organizations also filed protests with the McKinley Administration against the second treaty; and

WHEREAS, in spite of these protests, President McKinley indicated his intent to submit the Treaty of Cession to the United States Senate, which would convene in December of 1897; and

WHEREAS, in September of 1897, the Men's and Women's Hawaiian Patriotic League (Hui Aloha ‘Aina) initiated signature petitions protesting the treaty and deposited the petitions with the United States Senate in December 1897; and

WHEREAS, these protests, along with the formal protests of Queen Lili‘uokalani, succeeded in preventing the Senate from ratifying this second attempt to annex the Hawaiian Islands by a treaty of cession; and

WHEREAS, on April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against the Kingdom of Spain, turning Hawai‘i into a naval and troop base to commence the war against the Spanish in the Philippines and Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, purportedly to protect the west coast of the United States; and

WHEREAS, on July 7, 1898, President McKinley signed a joint resolution of annexation passed by the United States House of Representatives and the Senate, purporting to annex the Hawaiian Islands justified as a war necessity; and

WHEREAS, a joint resolution is not a treaty, but a domestic measure with authority that is limited and applicable only within the territory of the United States; and

WHEREAS, standing at the front entrance to McKinley High School is a bronze statue of President William McKinley clutching a document inscribed "Treaty of Annexation", a document that historically does not exist; and

WHEREAS, the statue has contributed to misinformation shared with the people of Hawai‘i and Native Hawaiians about the history of these Islands and of the relationship of the United States to the Hawaiian Kingdom, leading to the teaching of an incorrect history; and

WHEREAS, that these inaccuracies, when incorporated into public displays such as statues, are harmful to all, including young people at McKinley High School, because they perpetuate and promote misinformation, leaving Hawai‘i's youth unprepared to engage in meaningful dialogue on Hawai‘i's history; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the House of Representatives concurring, that efforts to promote correct Hawaiian history in the State, including historically accurate renderings, must be supported; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the document carried in the statue's hand be removed through recasting; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Executive Director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the Comptroller, and the Principal of McKinley High School.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaiian History; McKinley High School; William McKinley Statue

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	96
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII