Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 7, 1 July 1998 — Sleight of Hand [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sleight of Hand

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By David Keanu Sai Editor's note: Featured this month is the first oftwo parts of "Sleight ofHand," the result of in-depth research ofthe facts and legalities surrounding the 1898 "purported" annexation. The author is the chairman of ' the history sub-group ofthe "Hawai'i Loa Kū Like Kākou" i committee planning the Aug. | 12, 1998, centennial observance at 'lolani Palaee. See i related video and discussion on "First Friday," eaeh Friday in July, on Channel 53.

AUG. 12, 1998. marks the centennial of the purported annexation of the | Hawaiian Islands to the United States. In order j to truly appreciate the signifi- w | eanee of this day, we must 1 understand what transpired over 100 years ago. WhatisAnnexation? ! Annexation, in its simplest terms, is a contract or agreement that one nation |H agrees to be incorporated under the laws of another ' nalion. Under international ■ | law and practice, annexa1 tion, aside from conquest, >JĒĒ ean only occur by treaty, ; whieh is an agreement or iwĒĒ contract between nations. I A simple three-step ; process is all that is i required for a treaty of ; annexation to be legal and | binding: First, representatives i from the executive branch of ; both governments sign and eon- 1 1 sent to a written agreement; Second, this signed agreement ; is then submined to the two respective governments for ratification or approval. In the ; United States, that approval is based on a two-thirds vote of the ; Senate; Third, with both eountries having consented to the terms and conditions of the

! agreement, aU that remains is for the ; representatives of both countries to exchange copies of the ratified agreement. That agreement, under intemational law, is now considered a bona fide and legally binding contract or treaty. First Attempt of Annexation to the United States Immediately following a treasonous attempt to overthrow the Con-

stitutional Govemment of the Hawaiian Kingdom in January 1 893, enemies of the Kingdom, ealling themselves the provisional government, departed for Washington, D.C., to sign a treaty of annexation with the United States. Their intention was to achieve annexation at any cost. Tr*aty Siqned and Submitted to the U.S. Senate On Feb.l4, 1893, a treaty of annexation was concluded and signed between representatives of the self-proclaimed

: provisional govemment and the Secretary of State; on the following day it was submitted to the United States Senate for ratification or approval. Treaty Withdrawn from U.S. Senate However, before the United States Senate could ratify the proposed treaty, newly elected President Grover Cleveland, confronted with the facts of the illegal overthrow,

withdrew the treaty from further consideration. President Cleveiand Addresses U.S. (ongress In a message to the United States Congress on Dec. 18, 1893, President Grover Cleveland concluded that "... the United States could not, under the circumstances disclosed, annex the islands without justly incurring the imputation of acquiring them by unjustifiable methods, I shall not again submit the treaty of annexation to the Senate for its eonsideration ..."

Second Attempt of Annexation totheUnitedStates Having failed at this first attempt to obtain a treaty of annexation with the United States, the self-pro-claimed provisional govemment on July 4. 1 894, declared itself to be the Republic of Hawai'i and maintained its opposition to the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom Govemment as called for by United States President Cleveland. On June 16, 1897, with Grover Cleveland now out of office, a second effort to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States was attempted. A treaty

was signed in Washington, D.C., between representatives of the self-proclaimed Republie of Hawai'i and the newly :lected President of the United States, William McKinley, by John Sherman, Secretary of t State.

Qu??n Lili'uokalani Files Prot?stof I Treaty in State 1 Department I In Washington J the following day, Her Majesty Queen Lili'uokalani

filed a formal letter nf

protest in the State Department asserting that the proposed treaty of annexation violated the existing treaties between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States and therefore intemational law. Her Majesty Queen Lili'uokalani requested President McKinley to withdraw the treaty from the Senate and also asked that the Senate not ratify the treaty. ■ 'A 'ole i pau. See conclusion of "Sleight of Hand " in the August issue of Ka Wai Ola o OHA.

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Lili'uokalani, mo'ī wahine o Hawai'i

PHOĪO COURTESY: GUAVA GRAPHICS