Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史

After a century of American rule, many native Hawaiians remain bitter about how the United States acquired the islands, located 2, 500 miles from the West Coast.

In 1893, a small group of sugar and pineapple-growing businessmen, aided by the American minister to Hawaii and backed by heavily armed U.S. soldiers and marines, deposed Hawaii' s queen. Subsequently, they imprisoned the queen and seized 1.75 million acres of crown land and conspired to annex the islands to the United States.

On January 17, 1893, the conspirators announced the overthrow of the queen' s government. To avoid bloodshed, Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani（女王利留卡拉尼）yielded her sovereignty and called upon the U.S. government "to undo the actions of its representatives." The U.S. government refused to help her regain her throne. When she died in 1917, Hawaii was an American territory. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state after a plebiscite in which 90 percent of the islanders supported statehood.

The businessmen who conspired to overthrow the queen claimed that they were overthrowing a corrupt, dissolute regime in order of advance democratic principles. They also argued that a Western power was likely to acquire the islands. Hawaii had the finest harbor in the mid-Pacific and was viewed as a strategically valuable coaling station and naval base.

After the bloodless 1893 revolution , the American businessmen lobbied President Benjamin Harrison and Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands. In his last month in office, Harrison sent an annexation treaty to the Senate for confirmation , but the new president, Grover Cleveland, withdrew the treaty "for the purpose of re-examination." He also received Queen Liliuokalani and replaced the American stars and stripes in Honolulu with the Hawaiian flag.

Cleveland also ordered a study of the Hawaiian revolution. The inquiry concluded that the American minister to Hawaii had conspired with the businessmen to overthrow the queen, and that the coup would have failed "but for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts respecting the dangers to life and property." Looking back on the Hawaii takeover, President Cleveland later wrote that "the provisional government owes its existence to an armed invasion by the United States. By an act of war...a substantial wrong has been done."

President Cleveland' s recommendation that the monarchy be restored was rejected by Congress. The House of Representatives voted to censure the U.S. minister to Hawaii and adopted a resolution opposing annexation. But Congress did not act to restore the monarchy. In 1894, Sanford Dole, who was beginning his pineapple business, declared himself president of the Republic of Hawaii without a popular vote. The new government found the queen guilty of treason and sentenced her to five years of hard labor and a $5, 000 fine. While the sentence of hard labor was not carried out, the queen was placed under house arrest.

The Republican Party platform in the presidential election of 1896 called for the annexation of Hawaii. Petitions for a popular vote in Hawaii were ignored. Fearing that he lacked two-thirds support for annexation in the Senate, the new Republican president, William McKinley, called for a joint resolution of Congress. With the country aroused by the Spanish American War and political leaders fearful that the islands might be annexed by Japan, the joint resolution easily passed Congress. Hawaii officially became a U.S. territory in 1900.

When Capt. James Cooke（詹姆斯·库克）, the British explorer, arrived in Hawaii in 1778, there were about 300, 000 Hawaiians on the islands; however, infectious diseases reduced the native population. Today, about 20 percent of Hawaii' s people are of native Hawaiian ancestry, and only about 10, 000 are of pure Hawaiian descent. Native Hawaiians were poorer, less healthy, and less educated than members of other major ethnic groups on the islands.

In 1993, a joined Congressional resolution, signed by President Bill Clinton, apologized for the U.S. role in the overthrow. The House approved the resolution by voice vote. The Senate passed it 65 to 34 votes.

夏威夷王国是在1810年由欧胡、茂夷、莫洛凯、拉奈及夏威夷等岛屿的小型独立部落，在经过一场直接且血腥的战争后所统一成立的王国。领导战争且统一夏威夷群岛的酋长，后被尊为卡美哈梅哈大帝。卡美哈梅哈受到暴风雨的阻碍，未能把握住在考艾岛的胜利，然而考艾的酋长后来也臣服于卡美哈梅哈的统治。夏威夷王国的统一终结了夏威夷群岛各部族的封建社会，转型为一个具有现代雏型的、独立的，与欧洲各帝国相仿的君主立宪体制。

1894年，当地的美国人发动政变，软禁了夏威夷女王，成立夏威夷共和国，夏威夷王国灭亡。1898年夏威夷共和国与美国合并，成为美国的一个地区，1959年成为美国的一个州。

Key Words in History 历史关键词

1. Hawaiian Revolution of 1893夏威夷1893革命

Until the 1890s the Kingdom of Hawaii was an independent sovereign state, recognized by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Germany. Though there were threats to Hawaii' s sovereignty throughout the Kingdom' s history, it was not until the signing, under duress, of the Bayonet Constitution in 1887, that this threat began to be realized. On January 17, 1893, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani, was deposed in a coup détat led largely by American citizens who were opposed to Liliuokalani' s attempt to establish a new Constitution. The success of the coup efforts was supported by the landing of U.S.Marines, who came ashore at the request of the conspirators. The coup left the queen imprisoned at Iolani Palace under house arrest. The sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaii was lost to a Provisional Government led by the conspirators, later briefly becoming the Republic of Hawaii, before eventual annexation to the United States in 1898. One hundred years later, the U.S.Congress passed Public Law 103-150, otherwise known as the Apology Resolution, signed by President Bill Clinton on November 23, 1993. The resolution apologized for the U.S.Government' s role in supporting the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

2. Queen Liliuokalani 女王利留卡拉尼

Queen Liliuokalani was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian islands. She felt her mission was to preserve the islands for their native residents. In 1898, Hawaii was annexed to the United States and Queen Liliuokalani was forced to give up her throne.

Queen Liliuokalani was deposed by the advocates of a Republic for Hawaii in 1893. She was born in Honolulu to high chief Kapaakea and the chiefess Keohokalole, the third of ten children. Her brother was King Kalakaua. Liliuokalanie was adopted at birth by Abner Paki and his wife Konia. At age 4, her adoptive parents enrolled her in the Royal School. There she became fluent in English and influenced by Congregational missionaries. She also became part of the royal circle attending Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma.

3. Kamehameha III 卡美哈梅哈三世

Hawaii' s longest reigning monarch, Kamehameha III came to the throne when he was only nine. He shared his rule initially with Ka' ahumanu, then his half-sister Kinau who succeeded Ka' ahumanu as kuhina nui. Following a period of rebellion, Kamehameha III settled into his role and worked diligently to formalize Hawaiian government. Advised by foreigners and recognizing Western forms as a useful model, Kamehameha III established a declaration of rights, Hawaii' s first constitution (1840), judicial and executive branches of government, and a system of land ownership under the Mahele of 1848.

In a speech celebrating the return of sovereignty to the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1843, Kamehameha III used the phrase, "Ua mau ke ea o ka ' aina i ka pono (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness)." His words live on as the state' s motto.

Background Knowledge 背景知识补充

1842年，美国承认夏威夷为一个独立国；1887年，美国颁布了新的宪法限制了国王大卫·卡拉卡拉威亚的权力；1893年，夏威夷的利留卡拉尼女王被推翻，成立临时政府，由Sanford B.Dole监督。直至1959年，美国艾森豪威尔总统签约，夏威夷才成为美国第五十个州。

但令美国政府感到遗憾的事情，是它的第50个州长期以来还不是一个完整意义上的州，这是因为在夏威夷群岛中有一个小岛拒绝加入美国——

在茫茫的太平洋中，有一个不起眼的火山岛尼豪岛，它是构成夏威夷群岛的8个主要岛屿之一。该岛面积仅有186平方千米，人口只有300多。就是这么个弹丸小岛却拒绝了超级大国美国的兼并，并且由女性统治了100多年，被人称为女性小王国。

该岛原属夏威夷国王梅亚四世统辖。1836年，苏格兰一位贵族的遗孀辛克莱妇人以1万美元的代价从梅亚四世手中购得此岛，这位或许是厌倦了上流社会浮华虚伪生活的贵妇人带着十几名亲属和奴仆告别了英国来到小岛，岛上原来的200多名土著人成了她的臣民。30年后，这位贵妇人溘然长逝，她在遗嘱中规定：这个小岛的继承权传女不传子，永远归辛克莱家族的女性统治。在她去世5年之后，即1898年，夏威夷被美国兼并，但这个小小的女性王国并不听美国的号令。1959年，夏威夷成为美国的第50个州，尼豪岛居民投票表决拒绝加入美国。

为了拥有对尼豪岛的所有权，夏威夷州政府于1975年欲出巨资买下尼豪岛并辟为州立公园，但仍遭到拒绝。

该岛实行封闭政策，到目前仍禁止游客前往观光。岛上居民主要依靠畜牧业和捕捞海产品为生，过着自给自足的生活。全岛没有现代化的设施及建筑，也没有警察和军队。居民在接受8年制的义务教育后，可投考邻近岛上的中学，还可去夏威夷州首府檀香山读大学。 eRknWXT3wVZuNzsoYzirHxc8dKG89KyQDZg/tZvtYz902H3Rv2iWVmkpsp9fB77i