A joint resolution to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
PL 103-150 (S.J.Res.19), enacted 11/23/1993

107 STAT. 1510 
PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993 
Public Law 103-150 
103d Congress 
Joint Resolution 
Nov 23 1993 
"^^ acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the Jtinuary 17, 1893 overthrow of the 
' 
Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf 
[S.J. Res. 19] 
of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. 
Whereas, prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in 1778, the 
Native Hawaiian people lived in a highly organized, self-sufficient, 
subsistent social system based on communal land tenure with 
a sophisticated language, culture, and religion; 
Whereas a unified monarchical government of the Hawaiian Islands 
was established in 1810 under Kamehameha I, the first King 
of Hawaii; 
Whereas, from 1826 until 1893, the United States recognized the 
independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and com-
plete diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Grovernment, and 
entered into treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian mon-
archs to govern commerce and navigation in 1826, 1842, 1849, 
1875, and 1887; 
Whereas the Congregational Church (now known as the United 
Church of Christ), through its American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions, sponsored and sent more than 100 mission-
aries to the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1820 and 1850; 
Whereas, on January 14, 1893, John L. Stevens (hereafter referred 
to in this Resolution as the "United States Minister"), the United 
States Minister assigned to the sovereign and independent King-
dom of Hawaii conspired with a small group of non-Hawaiian 
residents of the Kingdom of Hawaii, including citizens of the 
United States, to overthrow the indigenous and lawful Govern-
ment of Hawaii; 
Whereas, in pursuance of the conspiracy to overthrow the Govern-
ment of Hawaii, the United States Minister and the naval rep-
resentatives of the United States caused armed naval forces of 
the United States to invade the sovereign Hawaiian nation on 
January 16, 1893, and to position themselves near the Hawaiian 
Government buildings and the lolani Palace to intimidate Queen 
Liliuokalani and her Government; 
Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17, 1893, a Committee of 
Safety that represented the American and European sugar plant-
ers, descendents of missionaries, and financiers deposed the 
Hawaiian monarchy and proclaimed the establishment of a Provi-
sional Grovemment; 
Whereas the United States Minister thereupon extended diplomatic 
recognition to the Provisional Government that was formed by 
the conspirators without the consent of the Native Hawaiian 
PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993 
107 STAT. 1511 
people or the lawful iGrovemment of Hawaii and in violation 
of treaties between the two nations and of international law; 
Whereas, soon thereafter, when informed of the risk of bloodshed 
with resistance, Queen Liliuokalani issued the following state-
ment yielding her authority to the United States Government 
rather than to the Provisional Government: 
"I Liliuokalani, by the Grace of Grod and under the Constitution 
of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest 
against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional 
Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming 
to have established a Provisional Government of and for this King-
dom. 
"That I yield to the superior force of the United States of 
America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. 
Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu 
and declared that he would support the Provisional Government. 
"Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the 
loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force 
yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United 
States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action 
of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which 
I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.". 
Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D, 1893.; 
Whereas, without the active support and intervention by the United 
States diplomatic and military representatives, the insurrection 
against the Government of Queen Liliuokalani would have failed 
for lack of popular support and insufficient arms; 
Whereas, on February 1, 1893, the United States Minister rsiised 
the American flag and proclaimed Hawaii to be a protectorate 
of the United States; 
Whereas the report of a Presidentially established investigation 
conducted by former Congressman James Blount into the events 
surrounding the insurrection and overthrow of January 17, 1893, 
concluded that the United States diplomatic and military rep-
resentatives had abused their authority £ind were responsible 
for the change in government; 
Whereas, as a result of this investigation, the United States Min-
ister to Hawaii was recalled from his diplomatic post and the 
military commander of the United States armed forces stationed 
in Hawaii was disciplined and forced to resign his commission; 
Whereas, in a message to Congress on December 18, 1893, President 
Grover Cleveland reported fully and accurately on the illegal 
acts of the conspirators, described such acts as an "act of war, 
committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative 
of the United States and without authority of Congress", and 
acknowledged that by such acts the government of a peaceful 
and friendly people was overthrown; 
Whereas President Cleveland further concluded that a "substantial 
wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national 
character as well as the rights of the injured people requires 
we should endeavor to repair" and called for the restoration 
of the Hawaiian monarchy; 
Whereas the Provisional Government protested President Cleve-
land's call for the restoration of the monarchy and continued 
to hold state power and pursue Emiuexation to the United States; 
Whereas the Provisional Government successfully lobbied the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate (hereafter referred 
107 STAT. 1512 
PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993 
to in this Resolution as the "Committee") to conduct a new inves-
tigation into the events surrounding the overthrow of the monar-
chy; 
Whereas the Committee and its chairman, Senator John Morgan, 
conducted hearings in Washington, D.C., from December 27, 1893, 
through February 26, 1894, in which members of the Provisional 
Grovernment justified and condoned the actions of the United 
States Minister and recommended annexation of Hawaii; 
Whereas, although the Provisional Government was able to obscure 
the role of the United States in the illegal overthrow of the 
Hawaiian monarchy, it was unable to rally the support from 
two-thirds of the Senate needed to ratify a treaty of annexation; 
Whereas, on July 4, 1894, the Provisional Government declared 
itself to be the Republic of Hawaii; 
Whereas, on January 24, 1895, while imprisoned in lolani Palace, 
Queen Liliuokalani was forced by representatives of the RepubHc 
of Hawaii to officially abdicate her throne; 
Whereas, in the 1896 United States Presidential election, William 
McKinley replaced Grover Cleveland; 
Whereas, on July 7,1898, as a consequence of the Spanish-American 
War, President McKinley signed the Newlands Joint Resolution 
that provided for the annexation of Hawaii; 
Whereas, through the Newlands Resolution, the 
self-declared 
Republic of Hawaii ceded sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands 
to the United States; 
Whereas the Republic of Hawaii also ceded 1,800,000 acres of 
crown, government and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 
without the consent of or compensation to the Native Hawaiian 
people of Hawaii or their sovereign government; 
Wnereas the Congress, through the Newlands Resolution, ratified 
the cession, annexed Hawaii as part of the United States, and 
vested title to the lands in Hawaii in the United States; 
Whereas the Newlands Resolution also specified that treaties exist-
ing between Hawaii and foreign nations were to immediately 
cease and be replaced by United States treaties with such nations; 
Whereas the Newlands Resolution effected the transaction between 
the Republic of Hawaii and the United States Government; 
Whereas the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relin-
quished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people 
or over their national lands to the United States, either through 
their monarchy or through a plebiscite or referendum; 
Whereas, on April 30, 1900, President McKinley signed the Organic 
Act that provided a government for the territory of Hawaii and 
defined the political structure and powers of the newly established 
Territorial Government and its relationship to the United States; 
Whereas, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th State of 
the United States; 
Whereas the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people 
is intrinsically tied to their deep feehngs and attachment to 
the land; 
Whereas the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii 
over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been 
devastating to the population and to the health and well-being 
of the Hawaiian people; 
Whereas the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, 
develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral terri-
tory, and their cultural identity in accordance with their own 
PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993 
107 STAT. 1513 
spiritual and traditional beliefs, customs, practices, language, 
and social institutions; 
Whereas, in order to promote racial harmony and cultural under-
standing, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii has determined 
that the year 1993 should serve Hawaii as a year of special 
reflection on the rights and dignities of the Native Hawaiians 
in the Hawsdian and the American societies; 
Whereas the Eighteenth Greneral Synod of the United Church of 
Christ in recognition of the denomination's historical complicity 
in the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 directed 
the Ofi&ce of the President of the United Church of Christ to 
offer a pubUc apology to the Native Hawaiian people and to 
initiate the process of reconciliation between the United Church 
of Christ and the Native Hawaiians; and 
Whereas it is proper and timely for the Congress on the occasion 
of the impending one hundredth anniversary of the event, to 
acknowledge the historic significance of the illegal overthrow 
of the Kingdom of Hawaii, to express its deep regret to the 
Native Hawaiian people, and to support the reconciliation efforts 
of the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with 
Native Hawaiians: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APOLOGY. 
The Congress— 
(1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal 
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, 
acknowledges the historical significance of this event which 
resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the 
Native Hawaiian people; 
(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initi-
ated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ 
with Native Hawaiians; 
(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people 
of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of 
Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents 
and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the 
rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination; 
(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifica-
tions of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order 
to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the 
United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and 
(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowl-
edge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of 
Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United 
States and the Native Hawaiian people. 
SEC. 2. DEFINmONS. 
As used in this Joint Resolution, the term "Native Hawaiian" 
means any individual who is a descendent of the aboriginal people 
who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area 
that now constitutes the State of Hawaii. 
107 STAT. 1514 
PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993 
SEC. 3. DISCLAIMER. 
Nothing in this Joint Resolution is intended to serve as a 
settlement of any claims against the United States. 
Approved November 23, 1993. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 19: 
SENATE REPORTS: No. 103-126 (Comm. on Indian Affairs). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 139 (1993): 
Oct. 27, considered and passed Senate. 
Nov. 15, considered and passed House.