Bill Text: HI SCR150 | 2017 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Requesting The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs To Convene A Study Group To Make Recommendations To The Legislature On An Appropriate Means To Honor Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox, Hawaii's First Elected Delegate To The United States Congress.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-05-30 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 05-30-17. [SCR150 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SCR150-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	150
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TO CONVENE A STUDY GROUP TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE ON AN APPROPRIATE MEANS TO HONOR ROBERT WILLIAM KALANIHIAPO WILCOX, HAWAII'S FIRST ELECTED DELEGATE TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox was born on February 15, 1855, on the island of Maui to Captain William Slocum Wilcox, a native of England by way of Newport, Rhode Island, and Kalua Makoleokalani of Maui, whose mother descended directly from Pi‘ilani, ancient ruler of Maui Nui, and whose father descended directly from Umi, ancient ruler of Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox attended Haleakalā Boarding School in Makawao, Maui, and in 1875 was selected by the Kingdom of Hawai‘i to teach school on Maui at Keawekapu, Makena and later at Ulupalakua, and was elected to the Royal Legislature in 1880 to serve the citizens of Wailuku and its neighboring Maui towns; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1880, King Kalākaua selected Mr. Wilcox to study at the Royal Military Academy in Turin, Italy, where he excelled and was selected by Italian officers to attend the Royal Application School for Engineer and Artillery Officers, where he remained until the end of 1887; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox graduated with commendations and received a commission from the Italian Minister of War as a Lieutenant of Artillery, which was signed by the king of Italy; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1887, just prior to Mr. Wilcox's return to Hawai‘i, the Reform Party of Hawai‘i, in concert with the Honolulu Rifles militia unit, imposed the Bayonet Constitution on King Kalākaua; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Bayonet Constitution limited the powers of the monarchy and imposed income and property ownership requirements for voting, which allowed wealthy Europeans and Americans to vote even though they were not citizens of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, while at the same time disenfranchising Native Hawaiian citizens; and

 

     WHEREAS, when Mr. Wilcox return to Hawai‘i in late 1887, he organized against the Reform Party of Hawai‘i by advocating for the revocation of the Bayonet Constitution of 1887; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox along with other loyalists founded the Kamehameha Rifles Association with members loyal to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i who held similar views; and

 

     WHEREAS, on July 30, 1889, the Kamehameha Rifles Association was confronted in an armed battle by the Honolulu Rifles militia unit, which was aided by a large American military force from the American warship "Adam" moored in Honolulu Harbor; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox eventually surrendered to the Honolulu Rifles and was charged with treason, but eventually was acquitted by a jury to the acclaim and approval of many Native Hawaiian citizens; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox helped establish the National Reform Party (‘Ao‘Ao Lahui), which advocated restoring power to the monarchy; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox ran for and was elected from the

island of O‘ahu to serve on the Royal Legislature, where he served from 1890 through 1894; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox founded a newspaper in 1892, The Liberal, which advocated positions on behalf of Native Hawaiian citizens in favor of adopting good government policies and protecting the Hawaiian Kingdom from commercial and political exploitation by foreign powers; and

 

     WHEREAS, Queen Lili‘uokalani, having succeeded to the leadership of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1891 after the untimely death of her brother King Kalākaua, realized that the Bayonet Constitution placed too much power in the hands of foreigners, limited the powers of the monarchy, and disenfranchised Native Hawaiians, and attempted on January 14, 1893, to revoke the Bayonet Constitution and to issue a new constitution to restore power to the monarchy and limit the influence of foreigners; and

 

     WHEREAS, Queen Lili‘uokalani realized that her authority and power as the reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i were in jeopardy from American and European business interests who were plotting against her plan to adopt a new constitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Queen recruited Mr. Wilcox to command the field artillery unit of the Royal Guard to protect and defend her and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from the influence and control of these foreign interests; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 16, 1893, John L. Stevens, United States Minister to Hawai‘i and an advocate of the United States' annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, ordered United States marines to land in Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 17, 1893, a group of European and American businessmen who favored the United States' annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i formed the Committee on Safety; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Committee on Safety, with the support of United States Marines, Minister Stevens, and the Honolulu Rifles militia unit, seized control of ‘Iolani Palace, imprisoned Queen Lili‘uokalani, declared the Hawaiian monarchy abolished, and proclaimed themselves the provisional government of Hawai‘i until annexation by the United States could be accomplished; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 17, 1893, Queen Lili‘uokalani realized the futility of resisting American forces and reasonably believed that the Kingdom of Hawai‘i would be restored by America, just as the British had restored the Hawaiian Kingdom during the reign of Kamehameha III; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Queen, in order to prevent bloodshed, surrendered and relinquished to the United States her authority over the Hawaiian Kingdom; and

 

     WHEREAS, on February 1, 1893, Minister Stevens landed American troops on Hawai‘i soil, placed the provisional government under the protection of the United States pending annexation negotiations, and hoisted the American flag over Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, on July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawai‘i (the former provisional government) declared its existence, adopted a new constitution, and announced Sanford Dole as its president; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the latter part of 1894, Mr. Wilcox and other loyalists loyal to Queen Lili‘uokalani planned a counter-revolution to regain control of the Hawaiian government from foreign (United States) interests, and to restore Queen Lili‘uokalani to the throne; and

 

     WHEREAS, for two weeks in January of 1895, the armed forces of the newly formed Republic of Hawai‘i inevitably defeated the loyalists from the Kamehameha Rifles Association in armed conflict, in concert with many more additional armed troops from American naval ships moored in Honolulu Harbor; and

 

     WHEREAS, as a result of the January 1895 conflict, two hundred loyalists, including Mr. Wilcox and Queen Lili‘uokalani, were arrested and charged with treason against the Republic of Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, on February 23, 1895, Mr. Wilcox was convicted of treason by the Republic of Hawai‘i and was sentenced to death, though his sentence was eventually reduced to a prison term of thirty-five years; and

 

     WHEREAS, Queen Lili‘uokalani was placed under house arrest at ‘Iolani Palace and was forced to sign under duress a document formally abdicating and relinquishing all of her claims to the throne--an action she later explained was necessary to prevent her loyalist supporters from being punished for treason and executed by the Republic of Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 1, 1898, Republic of Hawai‘i President Sanford Dole pardoned Mr. Wilcox after Queen Lili‘uokalani formally renounced her right to the throne; and

 

     WHEREAS, after the United States' annexation of Hawai‘i through the Newland's Resolution in 1898 and to ensure that Native Hawaiian interests were adequately represented in the Territory of Hawai‘i government, Mr. Wilcox zealously and successfully lobbied the United States Congress to grant universal voting rights for men in the legislation that would later become the 1900 Hawaiian Organic Act; and

 

     WHEREAS, after the passage of the Hawaiian Organic Act by Congress in 1900, Mr. Wilcox organized Native Hawaiians who had been anti-annexation into the Hawaiian Independent Party, which was later called the Home Rule Party of Hawai‘i, and with that Mr. Wilcox launched his candidacy for a seat in the Fifty-seventh United States Congress, which he later won; and

 

     WHEREAS, from November 6, 1900, to March 3, 1903, Mr. Wilcox served in the Fifty-seventh Congress as Hawai‘i's first Congressman and distinguished himself as a representative who fought for the rights of citizens; and

 

     WHEREAS, realizing that as a United States territory, Hawai‘i could send only non-voting representatives to Congress and that Hawai‘i's territorial governors would be appointed by the United States President and not elected by territorial residents, Mr. Wilcox and other prominent Native Hawaiians supported Hawai‘i becoming a state of the Union to ensure greater local control of Hawaii's government by the people; and

 

     WHEREAS, upon returning to Hawai‘i after his term in Congress ended in 1903, Mr. Wilcox ran for High Sherriff of Honolulu but passed away during his campaign for that office; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1993, the United States Congress adopted Public Law 103-50, often referred to as the "Apology Resolution", in which the United States Congress and President of the United States acknowledged the participation of the United States in the wrongful overthrow on January 17, 1893, of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, apologized for these actions and the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people, and called for reconciliation between Native Hawaiians and the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox was an instrumental and critically important figure in the struggles of Hawai‘i from monarchy to statehood; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wilcox should be remembered for his abiding support and advocacy for the rights of citizens to vote and fully participate in their government regardless of whether it was organized as a monarchy, a provisional government, a republic, or a territory of the United States; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is requested to convene a study group to make recommendations to the Legislature on an appropriate means to honor Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox, Hawaii's first elected delegate to the United States Congress; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study group:

 

     (1)  Be comprised of the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, or the Chairperson's designee, Director of Lāhui Hawaii Research Center of the University of Hawai‘i, or the Director's designee, a representative of Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge of the University of Hawai‘i, a representative of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the Superintendent of Education or the Superintendent's designee, and a member of the immediate family of Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox;

 

     (2)  Consider and make recommendations to the Legislature on an appropriate means to honor Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox's legacy of achievement, such as through the dedication or naming of a public facility, a public road, or other public structure in his honor as the study group shall recommend;

 

     (3)  Consider and suggest methods that may be undertaken by the Department of Education to develop public school curriculum and other materials to inform, educate, and increase awareness of public school students and the general public about Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox's life and accomplishments;

 

     (4)  Report its recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and

 

     (5)  Be dissolved on June 30, 2018; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Superintendent of Education, Director of Lāhui Hawai‘i Research Center of the University of Hawai‘i, Dean of the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge of the University of Hawai‘i, Chair of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and immediate family of Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox.

Report Title: 

Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox; Study Group