AlohaQuest Event / Chat Story / Archive Give Guestbook / Subscribe Contact / About Us Press Room
Archive
AlohaQuest

1893 Treaty of Annexation

(Never ratified)

The United States of America and the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands, in view of the natural dependence of those Islands upon the United States, of their geographical proximity thereto, of the intimate part taken by citizens of the United States in there implanting the seeds of Christian civilization, of the long continuance of their exclusive reciprocal commercial relations whereby their mutual interests have been developed, and the preponderant and paramount share thus acquired by the United States and their citizens in the productions, industries and trade of the said Islands, and especially in view of the desire expressed by the said Government of the Hawaiian Islands that those Islands shall be incorporated into the United States as an integral part thereof and under their sovereignty, in order to provide for and assure the security and prosperity of the said Islands, the High Contracting Parties have determined to accomplish by treaty an object so important to their mutual and permanent welfare.

To this end, the High Contracting Parties have conferred full power and authority upon their respectively appointed Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

The President of the United States of America, John W. Foster, Secretary of State of the United States; and

The President of the Executive and Advisory Councils of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands, Lorrin A. Thurston, William R. Castle, William C. Wilder, Charles L. Carter, and Joseph Marsden;

And the said Plenipotentiaries, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

The Government of the Hawaiian Islands hereby cedes, from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, absolutely and without reserve to the United States forever all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies, renouncing in favor of the United States every sovereign right of which as an independent nation it is now possessed; and henceforth said Hawaiian Islands and every island and key thereunto appertaining and each and every portion thereof shall become and be an integral part of the territory of the United States.

ARTICLE II.

The Government of the Hawaiian Islands also cedes and transfers to the United States the absolute fee and ownership of all public, government or crown lands, public buildings or edifices, ports, harbors, fortifications, military or naval equipments and all other public property of every kind and description belonging to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands, together with every right and appurtenance thereunto appertaining. The existing laws of the United States relative to public lands shall not apply to such lands in the Hawaiian Islands, but the Congress of the United States shall enact special laws for their management and disposition: Provided, that all revenue from or proceeds of the same, except as regards such part thereof as may be used or occupied for the civil, military or naval purposes of the United States or may be assigned to the use of the local Government, shall be used solely for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands for educational and other public purposes.

ARTICLE III.

Until Congress shall otherwise provide, the existing Government and laws of the Hawaiian Islands are hereby continued, subject to the paramount authority of the United States. The President, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a Commissioner to reside in said Islands who shall have the power to veto any act of said Government, and an act disapproved by him shall thereupon be void and of no effect unless approved by the President.

Congress shall, within one year from the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, enact the necessary legislation to extend to the Hawaiian Islands the laws of the United States respecting duties upon imports, the internal revenue, commerce and navigation; but until Congress shall otherwise provide, the existing commercial relations of the Hawaiian Islands both with the United States and foreign countries shall continue as regards the commerce of said Islands with the rest of the United States and with foreign countries, but this shall not be construed as giving to said Islands the power to enter into any new stipulation or agreement whatsoever or to have diplomatic intercourse with any foreign Government. The Consular representatives of foreign powers now resident in the Hawaiian Islands shall be permitted to continue in the exercise of their consular functions until they can receive their exequaturs from the Government of the United States.

ARTICLE IV.

The further immigration of Chinese laborers into the Hawaiian Islands is hereby prohibited until Congress shall otherwise provide. Furthermore, Chinese persons of the classes now or hereafter excluded by law from entering the United States will not be permitted to come from the Hawaiian Islands to other parts of the United States, and if so coming shall be subject to the same penalties as if entering from a foreign country.

ARTICLE V.

The public debt of the Hawaiian Islands, lawfully existing at the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, including the amounts due to depositors in the Hawaiian Postal Savings Banks, is hereby assumed by the Government of the United States; but the liability of the United States in this regard shall in no case exceed three and one quarter millions of dollars. So long, however, as the existing Government and the present commercial relations of the Hawaiian Islands are continued, as herein before provided, said Government shall continue to pay the interest on said debt.

ARTICLE VI.

The Government of the United States agrees to pay to Liliuokalani, the late Queen, within one year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty the sum of twenty thousand dollars, and annually thereafter a like sum of twenty thousand dollars during the term of her natural life, provided she in good faith submits to the authority of the Government of the United States and the local Government of the Islands.

And the Government of the United States further agrees to pay to the Princess Kaiulani within one year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty the gross sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, provided she in good faith submits to the authority of the Government of the United States and the local Government of the Islands.

ARTICLE VII.

The present Treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the one part, and by the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands on the other, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Honolulu as soon as possible. Such exchange shall be made on the part of the United States by the Commissioner hereinbefore provided for, and it shall operate as a complete and final conveyance to the United States of all the rights of sovereignty and property herein ceded to them. Within one month after such exchange of ratifications the Provisional Government shall furnish said Commissioner with a full and complete schedule of all the public property herein ceded and transferred.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles and have hereunto affixed their seals.

Done in duplicate at the city of Washington this fourteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three.




AlohaQuest.com/archive/treaty_annexation_1893.htm