Queen Liliuokalani

The last reigning monarch of the Hawai'ian Islands, she became Queen of Hawai'i upon the death of her brother, King Kalākaua I, in 1891. She reigned for just under two years and was then overthrown in 1893 by a group in the white business community led by Sanford Dole, cousin of pineapple magnate James Dole. This effort was backed with the threat of force from combined forces of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The American minister in Hawai'i, John L. Stevens, had troops take over Iolani Palace, the Honolulu residence of the Queen, as well as other governmental buildings and in 1894, the Queen was deposed, ending centuries of monarchial rule and establishing the Republic of Hawai'i with Sanford Dole as its first president. In 1895, Liliuokalani was accused of attempting to regain the throne after weapons were found in the gardens of her home in Washington Place in Honolulu. She was arrested but denied knowledge of the existence of these weapons, claiming that any plan of rebellion was due to the efforts of others and in 1896, she was released after the perpetrators were caught. At the request of the Queen, Dole subsequently granted all of them a pardon. The former Queen lived the remainder of her life at Washington Place, now the official residence of the Governor of Hawai'i. Dole led a successful effort to lobby Congress for the annexation of Hawai'i to the United States for economic exploitation, which occurred in 1898 through a joint resolution of Congress. Liliuokalani died due to complications from a stroke in 1917.