By Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, World BEYOND War, July 3, 2026
Even though it’s the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States, many in Hawai’i, the 50th territory to “join”/acquire U.S. statehood, will not be celebrating.
When you better know the history of how rich and greedy U.S. citizens, many descendants of the missionaries from the 1830s, conducted a coup that overthrew the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 you will understand why for many in Hawai’I, both Hawaiians and settler-colonists like me, there will be no celebration on July 4th.
Add to the coup, a go along U.S. Congress, similar to what we have today, that illegally “annexed” Hawai’i in 1898 through a “resolution.” The Hawaiian population did not agree with annexation and U.S. President Cleveland refused to allow annexation.
For Hawaiians, the overthrow of the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, the establishment of the illegal “Republic of Hawai’i” on July 4, 1894 and the imprisonment of the Queen of Hawai’i by the white, male rich oligarchs and ultimately the annexation of Hawaii by the United States are the reasons for many in Hawai’i to demand the return of the stolen sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands and refuse to celebrate the anniversaries of the founding of the United States.
The descendants of the missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in the 1830s became businessmen when the New England missionary association that had sent them to Hawai’i told the missionaries they had converted enough Hawaiians and stopped funding the Churchmen.
The men of God quickly acquired land and built extractive industries such as sugar cane. To gain more revenues and a greater profit from these industries, the oligarchs needed to eliminate U.S. tariffs on the Kingdom of Hawai’i’s export of sugar cane to the United States.
The easiest way to eliminate the tarrifs would be if the U.S. annexed the Kingdom of Hawaii as a territory.
And to annex the sovereign nation of Hawai’i, they first needed to overthrow the government of the Kingdom of Hawai’i which they did with the help of U.S. military from a ship in Honolulu harbor and the complicity of a U.S. official in Hawai’i.
How the goals of men who orchestrated the illegal annexation are reflected in 2026 Political Environment, 132 years later
It is chilling to read the history of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai’i by white, rich males and find much of the same issues of race and wealth reflected in the Trump administration 132 years later. The United States has not changed fundamentally-it is still dominated by a white, male, rich nationalist class.
The diversity, equality and inclusiveness as a goal of our country to counter-act the historic racism and wealth disparities of the nation has been gleefully thrown out the window by the racist Trump administration with lawsuits filed against universities, college presidents and professors fired and company CEOs and government departments and agencies running scared of “political correctness” as mandated by the Trump administration.
How coup-maker writings in 1894 reflect many attitudes and policies of the Trump administration
The rich, oligarch coup-makers of Hawai’i, led by the Committee of Safety composed of seven foreign residents-five Americans, one Scotsman, and one German from the “Missionary Party, quickly set themselves up as the provisional, then permanent government of the “Republic of Hawaii” and decided they needed their own constitution throwing out the Hawaiian constitution.
The March 10, 1894 letter that Lorrin Thurston, a descendent of the original missionaries who came to Hawaii from New England, wrote the new President of “Republic of Hawai’i” Sanford Dole (Yes of Dole Pineapples), summarized attitudes and thoughts on what the new government should represent.
The letter and the subsequent actions of the Coup government reminds one of the current political and governmental environment in the United States 132 years later.
For this article, I have used quotes from the March 10, 1894 letter which can be found in a book about the history of Hawaii (pages 210-217).
Necessities of the Present Situation
The powerful white man Thurston wrote, “I hope that those who are drafting the constitution will not allow fine theories of free government to predominate over the necessities of the present situation.”
Trump considers anything that he wants as a “necessity of the present situation” and no need to worry about laws and regulations.
Free Speech
Thurston counsels against free speech because that would only encourage the native opposition: “To treat them with forbearance and courtesy is like trying to disinfect leprosy with rose water.”
Trump no doubt considers the free speech of Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly in challenging Trump’s and Hegseth’s wars and the duty of military personnel to refuse illegal order as a form of “leprosy.”
Trial By Jury
Thurston casually dismisses the need to guarantee a trial by jury, which had been a bedrock legal principle in the English-speaking world for nearly seven hundred years.
Thurston simply points out, “We may get into such a condition that all trials will be a farce.”
To Trump, it would be much worse than a farce when a jury of an accused’s peers finds against the interests of his rich friend, members of an oligarchy. But, I guess it really doesn’t matter to Trump as will be pardon the rich, those convicted of criminal actions like the President of Honduras who was sentenced to 45 years in US prison on drug charges and Trump pardoned him.
Freedom of the Press
Thurston and Trump are much alike when Thurston states “I feel that the power to suppress the revolutionary press and to deport conspirators are the key to the present situation.”
Trump’s treatment of the press, particularly women journalists is hard to believe in its meanness and gender disparaging tone and no doubt he would love to deport journalists with the hundreds of thousands that he had deported in the past two years.
Loyalty Oath
Trump mirrors Thurston on the idea of requiring a loyalty oath to those participating in the constitutional convention-Trump’s requirement goes to agencies of the federal government.
Thurston saw two advantages in this prerequisite which Trump would no doubt support.
First: “To finally impress upon the world, and more particularly the Kanaka [i.e., native] mind the fact that monarchy is pau [finished].” Trump’s opponents would say that “democracy is finished.”
Second: “To so far as possible shut out from participation in the reorganization of the government all those who are not with us.”
Thurston was right in his second assumption as the vast majority of the Hawaiian minority who were allowed to vote in the 1890s refused to pledge an oath of loyalty to a government they despised, thus cutting themselves out of the political process.
Trump Office of Personnel Management now has a loyalty oath that federal government employees must sign.
What to Name Hawai’i?- What in the U.S. will next be named for Trump?
Thurston proposed, “I think that whatever else it is called it should have the word “Republic” in the name.” He wanted Hawaii to be called a republic without it actually being one.
The one thing Trump has not yet tried to do is name the United States after himself, although he added for a short time his name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts until a Federal court judge ordered its removal.
Not to be deterred, Trump got his name onto the U.S. Institute of Peace, despite, two wars on Iran, the kidnapping of the President of Venezuela and his spouse, and killing over 200 persons in military strikes on alleged narcotics boat, with no evidence of narcotics onboard the boats.
Trump has named a new class of U.S. Navy battleships after himself. And he has named the Children Savings Accounts, the Trump accounts.
A special edition of U.S. passports for American’s 250th anniversary has Trump’s photograph in it.
Trump’s photo is next to George Washington’s in the new National Park passes.
What will be next?
Election of a President – Trump loves this one!
In 1894 Thurston said: “I do not think that under the existing conditions we are safe in leaving election of President to a popular vote.”
There is no doubt that Trump and his election conspiracy theories feel this way. When neither Trump nor the Republicans win an election, he calls the election a fraud and “voting is rigged.”
Possibility of female voting to increase the non-Hawaiian voting numbers
After all, “Even in liberty-loving Massachusetts over one half of the population is disenfranched.” (Remember, this was in 1894)
Though in a letter to Dole later that month, he changes his mind about this, adding that women’s suffrage “has grown on me.” He sees the advantage of beefing up the small white minority in Hawai’i with “a large number of the lady teachers” and “the wives of nearly all the prominent citizens.”
Trump would go with the wives of white men and especially those wearing MAGA hats.
Voters Should Be Able to Speak, Read and Write Correctly From Dictation the English Language
Finally, Thurston says that voters for senators in the Republic’s Congress should be restricted “absolutely to those who can speak, read and write the English language.”
In this, Thurston suggests that Dole track down a copy of the new Mississippi state constitution, because the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow constitution had figured out innovative ways to deny blacks the right to vote that the Dole government could apply to native Hawaiians.
Thurston believed they could go further, refining Mississippi’s requirement that a voter should understand the constitution with a Hawaiian update in which “the voter be able to write correctly from dictation any portion of the constitution.” Thurston noted, “This limitation of the electorate is of course going to raise a great howl from many of the natives.”
Let’s not give this idea about voting requirements to Trump and his “Make America Great and White” Cronies.
Why Many in Hawaii Will Not Celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the United States on the 4th of July
For the warmongering history of the United States including the illegal annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai’i and because of the rich, greedy oligarchs who run the United States at the moment and who are using the 250th Anniversary of the United States to destroy White House buildings and national monuments and, cheapen the White House with Fight nights, put their name on cultural institutions, issue a passport with Trump’s photo in it, attempting to create a new 250 dollar bill with Trump’s likeness on it, the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, the U.S.-Israel genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the kidnapping and imprisonment of undocumented friends and neighbors who are not criminals, many of us in Hawai’i, and I suspect around the United States, will not celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the United States.
Gathering at Iolani Palace Instead of 4th of July Parade
Instead of going to the 4th of July parades around the islands of Hawai’i, and particularly on Oahu, many Hawaiians and friends will gather at Iolani Palace, the home of the monarchs of Hawai’i and the home of the last Queen of Hawai’i, Queen Lili’oukalani, whose reign was overthrown in 1893, and where she was kept as a prisoner for two years.
Instead of celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the United States, to make sure the younger generation knows the history of Hawaii, the group will reenact aspects of the illegal takeover of Hawai’i by the United States.
To ensure that current issues affecting Hawaii are acknowledged, there will be presentations on the militarism of Hawaii, the Rim of the Pacific huge naval war practice currently happening in the land, air and sea of Hawaii with 31 countries, 40 ships, 200 aircraft, 5 submarines and 25,000 military personnel in Hawaii for the war exercises.
Other important issues under discussion in the community on July 4 will include the true cost of the U.S. military in Hawaii, the Navy’s jet fuel contamination of the drinking water of Oahu, land back for the return of 47,000 acres of land that had been leased to the U.S. military for 65 years for $1.
About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was also a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and served in U.S. embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Federated States of Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the U.S. government in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” She has lived in Honolulu, Hawai’i for 23 years, since she resigned in 2003.
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