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Hawaiian kingdom
After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kaua?i in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872. One of the most important events during those years was the suppression of the Hawai?i Catholic Church.
That led to the Edict of Toleration that established religious freedom in the Hawaiian Islands. The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the election of King Lunalilo. After him, governance was passed on to the House of Kalakaua.
In 1887, citing maladministration, a group of American and European businessmen already involved in Hawaiian government forced King Kalakaua to sign the Bayonet Constitution which not only stripped the king of administrative authority but eliminated voting rights for Asians and set minimum income and property requirements for American, European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to wealthy elite Americans, Europeans and native Hawaiians. King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891.
His sister, Lili?uokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her dethronement in 1893. Her overthrow, by a coup d'état orchestrated by American and European businessmen, was sparked by the queen's threat to abrogate the constitution. Even though she backed down at the last moment, members of the expatriate community formed a Committee of Safety which mounted a nearly bloodless coup and established a provisional government. On May 30, 1894 a constitutional convention drafted a constitution for a Republic of Hawai?i. The Republic was declared on July 4, 1894.
During the kingdom era and subsequent republican regime, ?Iolani Palace — the only official royal residence in the United States today — served as the capitol buildings.
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