How did the US acquire Hawaii?
Although the monarchy was not overthrown until 1893, its fate effectively was sealed six years earlier when the same group that forced the overthrow imposed a new constitution on King David Kalakaua, who was forced to sign it under threat of arms. The document dramatically reduced the authority of the monarchy and instituted voter requirements that limited voting to wealthy businessmen and Hawaiian landowners, barring 75 percent of the native Hawaiian population and all Asians. When Queen Lili’uokalani ascended the throne after the death of her brother in 1891, she began work on a new constitution that would have effectively reversed the 1887 document. With the help of John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, the elite group that had changed the constitution in 1887 opposed the queen’s actions. Two years later, under threat of U.S. troops, she yielded her authority, saying, “Until such time as the Government of the United States shall … undo the action of its representative and
