9/11 and Patriotism in Hawaii: Ku'e petition

September 11 was the date in 1897 when the Ku'e anti-annexation petition was signed by the president and secretary of the men's and women's branches of Hui Aloha 'Aina - the Hawaiian Patriotic League: James Keauiluna Kaulia, Enoch Johnson, Kuaihelani Campbell, and Lilia Oholo. The petition is on the Web (mahalo Noenoe Silva, Nalani Minton, and UH Library) so you can take a look — "Sept. 11th, 1897" is on nearly every page.

The Ku'e petition against annexation (ku'e means "resist") was signed by over 21,000 Hawaiian nationals — men's and women's in about equal numbers. Another petition was conducted at the same time calling for the restoration of the constitutional monarchy of Hawaii, gathering 17,000 signatures. The Native Hawaiian population at the time was less than 40,000. To give a perspective relevant for today, pretty much every Hawaiian alive can find direct ancestors who signed their names to this document resisting the American occupation of their country.

The numbers are all the more impressive by the fact that the signatures were gathered over a period of only two or three weeks, across all islands, with those collecting the signatures traveling by boat and mule.

The text of the Ku'e petition was read before the United States Senate by Republican Senator George Hoar, and formally accepted into the record on December 9.

The text is as follows:

"To his Excellency WILLIAM McKINLEY, President, and the Senate, of the United States of America. Greeting : Whereas there has been submitted to the Senate of the United States of America a treaty for the Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America, for consideration at its regular session in December A.D. 1897; therefore, We the undersigned, native Hawaiian citizens and residents of the district of.............Island of.........who are members of the Hawaiian Patriotic League of the Hawaiian Islands, and others who are in sympathy with the said league, earnestly protest against the annexation of the said Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America in any form or shape."

As a direct result of the petition, the treaty of annexation of Hawaii failed to pass the senate, and was never ratified.

The following year, the Spanish-American War commenced, and Congressional annexationists driven by the exigencies of war were only able to pass a joint resolution of annexation, requiring a mere simple majority. The problem is that a domestic law cannot be imposed on a foreign country, and territory can be legally annexed only by means of a treaty.

A legal opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, October 4, 1988, states:

"The constitutionality of the annexation of Hawaii, by a simple legislative act, was strenuously contested at the time both in Congress and by the press. The right to annex by treaty was not denied, but it was denied that this might be done by a simple legislative act…Only by means of treaties, it was asserted, can the relations between States be governed, for a legislative act is necessarily without extraterritorial force––confined in its operation to the territory of the State by whose legislature it is enacted."

The DOJ opinion goes on to say that:

"It is therefore unclear which constitutional power Congress exercised when it acquired Hawaii by joint resolution."

That is of course a euphemistic way of saying there was no such constitutional power.

Yet Hawaii was the first in a quick series of acquisitions in America's first burst of extra-continental imperialist expansion which reverberates through geopolitical history.

So in Hawaii, September 11 is the date inscribed across the pages of the document by which the Hawaiian patriots PEACEFULLY and with ALOHA resisted American imperialism, and helped to legally preserve the sovereign independence of their country despite prolonged occupation.

For a fascinating and compelling history of the Ku'e Petition by the person who uncovered its existence at the U.S. National Archives, read Noenoe Silva's "The 1897 Petitions Protesting Annexation."

And for an excellent video history of the resistance to annexation, order a copy of the video "We Are Who We Were: From Resistance to Affirmation" by Na Maka O Ka 'Aina.

Posted: Thu - September 11, 2003 at 10:45 PM

getBlogName(); > getCategoryName("C1126750129"); >

9/11 and Patriotism in Hawaii: Ku'e petition

> >