Committee of Safety (Hawaii)
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 Missionary Party, as well as some foreign residents in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The group planned and carried out the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi on January 17, 1893. The goal of this group was to achieve annexation of Hawaiʻi by the United States. The new independent Republic of Hawaiʻi government was thwarted in this goal by the administration of President Grover Cleveland, and it was not until 1898 that the United States Congress approved a joint resolution of annexation creating the U.S. Territory of Hawaiʻi.[1][2][3]
For other Committees of Safety, see Committee of Safety (disambiguation).Formation
1887
1893 (succeeded by Provisional Government)
Overthrow of the government of Hawaii, annexation by the United States
- Oʻahu, Hawaii
Elite business and political leaders
English
Committee of Thirteen,
Committee of Safety
Hawaiian League[edit]
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.
International response[edit]
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]