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The 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii was a legal document by anti-monarchists to strip the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, initiating a transfer of power to American, European and native Hawaiian elites. It became known as the Bayonet Constitution for the use of intimidation by the armed militia which forced King Kalākaua to sign it or be deposed.〔〔 The document denied the King most of his personal authority, empowering the legislature and cabinet of the government.These anti-monarchists, known as the Hawaiian League, were mainly white males of American origin, and they quickly appointed themselves as government officials, providing themselves with almost complete control of the government.〔 〕 ==Rebellion of 1887== On June 30, 1887 a meeting of residents including the armed militia of the Honolulu Rifles, a group of white soldiers that were secretly the Hawaiian League’s military arm,〔Pat Pitzer. "The Overthrow of the Monarchy." Spirit of Aloha, 1994, 2 Accessed January 27, 2015. http://www,hawaii-nation.org/soa.html.〕 and politicians who were members of the Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom demanded King Kalākaua dismiss his cabinet headed by the controversial Walter M. Gibson. The Americans’ concerns about Gibson stemmed from the fact that he supported the King’s authority.〔Lorrin A. Thurston, and Andrew Farrell. Memoirs of the Hawaiian Revolution. Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing, 1936. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001261385.〕 The meeting was called to order by Sanford B. Dole, future patriarch of the Dole Food Company, and chaired by Peter Cushman Jones, the president of the largest sugar plantation agency in Hawaii.〔 The Hawaiian League and Americans controlled a vast majority of the Kingdom of Hawaii’s wealth. Lorrin A. Thurston, the main instigator of the subsequent overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, prepared a list of demands to the king. The meeting also insisted a new constitution be written. On the next morning, July 1, 1887, a shipment of arms was discovered from a neutral Australian ship (later found to be smooth-bore hunting guns used to scare birds from farmers' fields). The Honolulu Rifles took control and arrested and almost hanged Gibson.〔Sanford B. Dole, and Andrew Farrell. Memoirs of the Hawaiian Revolution. Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing, 1936. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3477492;view=1up;seq=9.〕 Kalākaua called in US Minister George W. Merrill, and the British, French, Portuguese and Japanese representatives and requested help. They all suggested he comply with any demands, which he did. Thurston then became the powerful interior minister, although Englishman William Lowthian Green was nominally head of the cabinet as minister of finance. Gibson was later exiled to San Francisco. Over less than a week, the new constitution was drafted by a group of lawyers including Thurston, Dole, William Ansel Kinney, William Owen Smith, George Norton Wilcox, and Edward Griffin Hitchcock. All were also associated with the Hawaiian League, which expressed its purpose of ending the Kingdom and annexation by the United States since its inception.〔 Kalākaua signed the document July 6, 1887, despite arguments over the scope of the changes. It stripped the King of most of his personal authority, empowering the legislature and cabinet of the government. It has since become widely known as the "Bayonet Constitution" because of the threat of force used to gain Kalākaua's cooperation. While Thurston and Dole denied this use of coercion and threats, Queen Liliuokalani asserted that Kalakaua’s life was threatened, and that “He signed that constitution under absolute compulsion.” The new constitution was never ratified in the Hawaiian Kingdom's legislature.〔Queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1898, http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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