Difference between revisions of "Introducing the Morgan Report"

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The Hawaiian Revolution---now all of the facts are available
+
=Major Hawaiian Historical Document Now on Internet with Important Implications for Akaka Bill and Hawaiian Sovereignty=
  
−
By Jere Krischel
+
By [[User:Jere Krischel|Jere Krischel]], editor-in-chief and [[User:Ken Conklin|Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.]], assistant editor
  
−
The Morgan Report of 1894 regarding the Hawaiian Islands is the U.S. Senate’s response to the Blount Report of 1893, which up to now has been the only source of information on the revolution of 1893 readily available to students of Hawaiian history.
+
A commentary in the [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/15/op/FP601150311.html Honolulu Advertiser of Sunday January 15] announced the internet publication of the
 +
Morgan Report.  However, print media have space
 +
limitations.  Here's more detail.
  
−
Now, for the first time in 112 years, the entire Morgan Report---all 808 pages of sworn testimony, exhibits and findings, is available online for the entire world at http://morganreport.org.
+
The Morgan Report has been known to historians for 112
 +
years, but was only
 +
available to the public in dusty archives of a few
 +
libraries.  It was treated as
 +
a rare book not for borrowing.  This 808 page report
 +
is now easily available on the internet, along with
 +
outlines and summaries that will be helpful to
 +
historians and students.  It is the official 1894
 +
report of the U.S. Senate
 +
regarding the U.S. role in the overthrow of the
 +
Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.  
  
−
John Tyler Morgan, democrat of Alabama, was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time of the hearings on Hawaii.  As a notorious racist ideologue, his paternalistic bigotry was undeniable, and shamefully common at the time.  Despite his anachronistic his opinions of race, his investigation was thorough and based firmly on the precepts of international law.
+
It is now available at http://morganreport.org
  
−
James Henderson Blount, democrat of Georgia, was the former democratic chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee.  Blount held secret, informal conversations with royalists and annexationists in Honolulu, and only presented testimony favorable to the Queen's cause in his report.
+
To clearly understand how important the Morgan Report
 +
is to the current debates about the Akaka bill and
 +
Hawaiian sovereignty, we must "nana i ke kumu" ("look
 +
to the source").
  
−
After receiving Blount's report, President Cleveland ordered Hawaii President Sanford Dole to dissolve the Provisional Government and restore the Queen, but Dole refused.   Cleveland then made his often quoted message to Congress, declaring the revolution improper, decrying the U.S. involvement in it, and referring the matter to the “broader authority and discretion of Congress” for a solution.
+
The source of the Akaka bill and impetus for the
 +
Hawaiian sovereignty
 +
movement is the 1993 Apology Resolution. It is heavily
 +
cited by the Akaka Bill
 +
as the main justification for claiming the U.S. has an
 +
obligation to help create
 +
a racially exclusionary Native Hawaiian government to
 +
negotiate for money, land, and political power as
 +
reparations for U.S. alleged misbehavior in 1893.
 +
Independence activists cite the Apology Resolution as
 +
a U.S. confession of a crime it committed against the
 +
Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 -- a crime whose remedy would
 +
be for the U.S. to get out of Hawai'i and restore
 +
independence.
  
−
In response the Senate passed a resolution empowering its Foreign Relations Committee to hold public hearings under oath, and cross-examine witnesses, to investigate U.S. involvement in the revolution and also to investigate whether it had been proper for Cleveland to appoint Blount and give him extraordinary powers to represent the U.S. and intervene in Hawaii without Senate confirmation.
+
The source of the 1993 Apology Resolution is the
 +
Blount Report of July 17, 1893, and President
 +
Cleveland's message to Congress of December 12, 1893.
 +
Both were highly critical of the U.S. landing of
 +
troops and the actions of U.S. Minister Stevens; both
 +
challenged the legitimacy of the Provisional
 +
Government.  It is the words of Cleveland and Blount
 +
we hear when people claim that the U.S. engaged in an
 +
"act of war" against the Kingdom of Hawai'i.  The
 +
Apology Resolution, and the Blount Report which
 +
spawned it, are the sources used to promote the view
 +
that the Kingdom of Hawai'i was victimized by the U.S.
 +
government.
  
−
That committee, five democrats and four republicans, cleared the U.S. of having led the revolution, and approved of the president’s questionable  appointment of Blount to conduct his investigation of the revolution.  In response to the findings of the Morgan Report, Cleveland rebuffed further entreaties by the Queen for intervention and recognized the Republic of Hawaii as the legitimate successor to the Kingdom.  
+
The Morgan Report directly contradicts the Blount
 +
Report and Cleveland's
 +
assertions in his message to Congress.  It was
 +
submitted on February 26, 1894 after months of
 +
testimony and investigation.
  
−
Although repudiated by the findings of Morgan Report, the Blount Report was the primary basis for the U.S. Apology Resolution of 1993, which in turn is the primary basis for both the Akaka bill and claims that Hawaiians have a right of independence under international law.
+
As a result of the Morgan Report, President Cleveland,
 +
the most stalwart proponent of the Queen, abandoned
 +
his earlier views of the revolution as stated in his
 +
strongly worded message to Congress, and subsequently
 +
acknowledged the Republic of Hawai'i as the legitimate
 +
successor government to the Kingdom of Hawaii. As a
 +
result of the Morgan Report, the world discovered in
 +
1894 that Blount and Cleveland were wrong on the facts
 +
surrounding the overthrow.  
  
−
Modern students of Hawaiian history have not had an opportunity to explore the full story of the Hawaiian revolution.  With the rediscovery of the Morgan Report, we all now have the opportunity to learn more about the events surrounding the overthrow, and can understand more fully the role played by U.S. peacekeepers.
+
As a result of the Morgan Report, we now know the
 +
Apology Bill
 +
and the Akaka bill are also wrong on the facts.
  
−
Sovereignty activists have had the entire Blount Report on the internet since 2002.  With grants from the University of Hawaii to digitize all the important documents related to annexation, they managed to finish everything except for the Morgan report.  Without the Morgan Report, however, there cannot be a fair and balanced view of history.  The time has come to set the record straight.  Today’s decisions about Hawaii’s future should be made in view of the complete historical record. The facts really do matter. Before today it was extremely difficult for scholars and students to go through the Morgan Report.  It was available only in the rare books sections of  a few libraries..  Now, thanks to volunteers collaborating with open source software over the internet,  it is easily available to anyone.
+
The Morgan Report contains 808 pages of historical
 +
documents, affidavits from eyewitnesses, and lengthy
 +
testimony given in 1894 under oath and subjected to
 +
cross examination in open hearings of the U.S. Senate
 +
Committee on Foreign Relations, whose chairman was
 +
John T. Morgan, Democrat of Alabama.  By contrast the
 +
Blount Report contained only unsworn statements
 +
gathered by Blount in secret with only himself and his
 +
stenographer present.
  
−
The editors of this project hope this will lead to a fuller discussion of Hawaiian history, and a more thorough understanding of the journey taken by the people of Hawaii culminating in the vibrant, diverse democracy it is today.  
+
The Morgan Report includes historical documents
 +
showing the long-term close relationship between the
 +
Kingdom of Hawai'i and the U.S., and previous efforts
 +
by the Kingdom seeking to be annexed to the U.S.,
 +
including full text of a detailed treaty of annexation
 +
written by Kamehameha III in 1854 but unsigned because
 +
of his untimely death.  It documents the fact that the
 +
economy of the Kingdom was dominated by trade with the
 +
U.S.;  and that most of the Kingdom's government
 +
leaders and bureaucrats, and many of its appointed and
 +
elected legislators, were American immigrants or their
 +
native-born descendants.  It also contains detailed
 +
information about Hawai'i geography, natural features,
 +
place names, the public school system, the economy,
 +
prices and production levels of sugar, etc.
  
 +
The Morgan Report includes eyewitness testimony and
 +
documents showing that the U.S. did not encourage the
 +
Committee of Safety to overthrow the monarchy, did not
 +
pledge any support ahead of time, and did not give any
 +
assistance to the revolution as it was unfolding.  The
 +
Report explains that the purpose of the U.S. landing
 +
armed sailors was to protect the lives and
 +
property of Americans.  Those U.S. peace keepers were
 +
also deployed to maintain order in the streets at the
 +
request of foreign nations' diplomats in the face of
 +
chaos and threatened violence against innocent
 +
civilians under circumstances where the monarchy had
 +
neither strength nor inclination to maintain order,
 +
and the other nations' diplomats had no forces
 +
available to protect their own citizens.
  
 +
So why haven't we seen the Morgan Report before?  What
 +
has kept this source in the dark for so long? The
 +
University of Hawaii Library has a web page containing
 +
historical documents from the 1890's including the
 +
entire 1397-page Blount Report and all the 660
 +
photographed pages containing 21,269 signatures on an
 +
1897 petition opposing annexation.  The project that
 +
made those documents available on that web page was
 +
funded by two grants totaling $5,500 during a two-year
 +
period from UH agencies.  The grants were based on the
 +
pledge, stated in the grant applications, that the
 +
Morgan Report would be included.  However, the project
 +
stopped short. A footnote currently there says the
 +
Morgan Report will eventually be posted, but since
 +
2002, no further grants have been pursued.
  
−
(Jere Krischel was born and raised in Hawaii.  He is of very mixed ancestry, including: Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Spanish, German and Irish.  His great uncle, Kiyoshi Masunaga, was killed in WWII while serving with the 442nd Infantry.  He attended Punahou School from kindergarten until 11th grade, when he left for early admission to USC with a resident honors program, graduating in 1995 with a degree in computer engineering/computer science.  He is married with two children and lives in California.  He can be reached at jere@krischel.org).
+
Perhaps the intent really was to digitize the Morgan
 +
Report. Perhaps it was not excluded on purpose in
 +
order to prevent the dissemination of information
 +
contrary to the current belief structure of the
 +
students, faculty and staff of UH.  But now the point
 +
is moot - the job unfinished by the University of
 +
Hawai'i has been picked up by volunteers.
 +
 
 +
The morganreport.org website has been developed
 +
without any financial support, in the spirit of
 +
volunteerism.  The editors have independently paid
 +
minor expenses for web-hosting and for secure mailing
 +
of the original book, and have spent their time fixing
 +
and formatting the digitized text without any
 +
compensation. Those who participated in the UH Library
 +
project, or anyone else, are welcome and encouraged to
 +
help finish editing Morgan in that same spirit (see
 +
below for more information).  Morgan project editors
 +
believe scholars, students, and everyone interested in
 +
historical accuracy should be proud to spend time on
 +
projects like these, especially given their relevance
 +
to the politics of today.
 +
 
 +
Of course, there are detractors who dismiss the Morgan
 +
Report as racist, and seek to deny its consideration
 +
by anyone involved in the debates over sovereignty and
 +
the overthrow.  But when reading the Morgan report we
 +
must remember that the year was 1894.  White people in
 +
America did not hesitate to express racial prejudice
 +
toward "Negroes" and others with dark skin.  White
 +
politicians sometimes regarded them as less than fully
 +
human, or childlike; or treated them with arrogance
 +
and condescension.  Slavery had ended only 39 years
 +
previously; Negroes were not allowed to vote in the
 +
Southern states; and Jim Crow laws were in effect.
 +
Some of the U.S. Senators had fought for the
 +
Confederate States in the Civil War, including
 +
Brigadier General Morgan himself.  Some readers may be
 +
offended by some of the racial prejudice and
 +
condescension contained in some of the testimonies.
 +
Some of the Senators also asked witnesses questions
 +
about life in Hawai'i indicating those Senators had a
 +
woeful lack of knowledge about Hawai'i's high degree
 +
of civilization.  Today's readers must try to put
 +
aside our own prejudice against anyone who spoke in
 +
such a way "back in the day."  The historical
 +
documents and factual eyewitness accounts must be
 +
judged on their merits rather than merely dismissing
 +
them in the same ad-himinem way that some witnesses
 +
dismissed non-whites.
 +
 
 +
In the interest of making the Morgan Report available
 +
as soon as possible, we are releasing it to the public
 +
even though substantial portions of it have not yet
 +
been given a pretty appearance.  The entire report is
 +
on the internet and searchable.  Hundreds of pages
 +
have been made easy to read.  Other hundreds of pages
 +
are still in the raw form produced by an optical
 +
character reader, which delivers the contents of each
 +
double-page in the hard-to-read form of continuous
 +
text all run together with no paragraph breaks.  About
 +
5% of the content, scattered unpredictably throughout
 +
every page, is incorrect digitization of letters or
 +
numbers the machine "saw" in a photographed page from
 +
the original book.  A capital "F" might be interpreted
 +
by the machine as an "R", especially if there's a fly
 +
speck or discoloration on the original document.
 +
Editing the individual pages is time-consuming,
 +
tedious, and also subject to occasional errors made by
 +
exhausted editors.  We welcome help in completing this
 +
important job.  Please contact the editor at
 +
[mailto:editor@morganreport.org editor@morganreport.org] if you'd like to volunteer
 +
for this project or similar ones in the future.
 +
 
 +
=About the authors=
 +
==[[User:Jere Krischel|Jere Krischel]]==
 +
[[Image:Jere.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Jere sitting at his desk in front of an Ibanez ATK 305]]
 +
Lives in California.
 +
Manager of programming team at Kaiser
 +
Permanente Information Technology, Southern
 +
California.  Graduated USC
 +
1995, B.S. Computer Engineering/Computer Science. Born
 +
and raised in
 +
Hawai'i.  Mixed ancestry, including Japanese, Chinese,
 +
Spanish,
 +
Filipino, German and Irish.  Grand uncle [[Kiyoshi Masunaga]] died in WWII
 +
as part of the 442nd.  Played with Punahou School
 +
Orchestra in
 +
Carnegie Hall 1990. Majority of family still live on
 +
Oahu and the Big
 +
Island.  Attended Punahou School from kindergarten
 +
until 11th grade,
 +
leaving for early admission to USC Resident Honors
 +
Program.  Married
 +
with two children, son 8, daughter 4 months.
 +
 
 +
==[[User:Ken Conklin|Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.]]==
 +
[[Image:KenConklin.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Ken Conklin at Valley of the Temples cemetery, Temple Valley, Kane'ohe, Hawaii]]
 +
B.S., M.S., Ph.D University of Illinois, Phi Beta
 +
Kappa et. al.
 +
Independent scholar and consultant on Hawaiian
 +
sovereignty. 
 +
Formerly Associate Professor of Philosophy and
 +
Educational Theory, Boston University
 +
45 publications in scholarly journals
 +
Also high school Mathematics teacher. 
 +
Resident of Kane'ohe since 1992. English/Irish
 +
ancestry.   
 +
 
 +
Was the first person with no native ancestry to run
 +
for OHA trustee, in 2000, placing 4th out of 20
 +
candidates for one at-large seat (winner was Haunani
 +
Apoliona).  
 +
 
 +
Taught a very controversial 12-hour course on Hawaiian
 +
Sovereignty at
 +
UH Manoa, Fall, 2002; also Mathematics courses at
 +
Windward Community
 +
College.

Latest revision as of 17:48, 11 December 2006

Major Hawaiian Historical Document Now on Internet with Important Implications for Akaka Bill and Hawaiian Sovereignty

By Jere Krischel, editor-in-chief and Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D., assistant editor

A commentary in the Honolulu Advertiser of Sunday January 15 announced the internet publication of the Morgan Report. However, print media have space limitations. Here's more detail.

The Morgan Report has been known to historians for 112 years, but was only available to the public in dusty archives of a few libraries. It was treated as a rare book not for borrowing. This 808 page report is now easily available on the internet, along with outlines and summaries that will be helpful to historians and students. It is the official 1894 report of the U.S. Senate regarding the U.S. role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

It is now available at http://morganreport.org

To clearly understand how important the Morgan Report is to the current debates about the Akaka bill and Hawaiian sovereignty, we must "nana i ke kumu" ("look to the source").

The source of the Akaka bill and impetus for the Hawaiian sovereignty movement is the 1993 Apology Resolution. It is heavily cited by the Akaka Bill as the main justification for claiming the U.S. has an obligation to help create a racially exclusionary Native Hawaiian government to negotiate for money, land, and political power as reparations for U.S. alleged misbehavior in 1893. Independence activists cite the Apology Resolution as a U.S. confession of a crime it committed against the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 -- a crime whose remedy would be for the U.S. to get out of Hawai'i and restore independence.

The source of the 1993 Apology Resolution is the Blount Report of July 17, 1893, and President Cleveland's message to Congress of December 12, 1893. Both were highly critical of the U.S. landing of troops and the actions of U.S. Minister Stevens; both challenged the legitimacy of the Provisional Government. It is the words of Cleveland and Blount we hear when people claim that the U.S. engaged in an "act of war" against the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The Apology Resolution, and the Blount Report which spawned it, are the sources used to promote the view that the Kingdom of Hawai'i was victimized by the U.S. government.

The Morgan Report directly contradicts the Blount Report and Cleveland's assertions in his message to Congress. It was submitted on February 26, 1894 after months of testimony and investigation.

As a result of the Morgan Report, President Cleveland, the most stalwart proponent of the Queen, abandoned his earlier views of the revolution as stated in his strongly worded message to Congress, and subsequently acknowledged the Republic of Hawai'i as the legitimate successor government to the Kingdom of Hawaii. As a result of the Morgan Report, the world discovered in 1894 that Blount and Cleveland were wrong on the facts surrounding the overthrow.

As a result of the Morgan Report, we now know the Apology Bill and the Akaka bill are also wrong on the facts.

The Morgan Report contains 808 pages of historical documents, affidavits from eyewitnesses, and lengthy testimony given in 1894 under oath and subjected to cross examination in open hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, whose chairman was John T. Morgan, Democrat of Alabama. By contrast the Blount Report contained only unsworn statements gathered by Blount in secret with only himself and his stenographer present.

The Morgan Report includes historical documents showing the long-term close relationship between the Kingdom of Hawai'i and the U.S., and previous efforts by the Kingdom seeking to be annexed to the U.S., including full text of a detailed treaty of annexation written by Kamehameha III in 1854 but unsigned because of his untimely death. It documents the fact that the economy of the Kingdom was dominated by trade with the U.S.; and that most of the Kingdom's government leaders and bureaucrats, and many of its appointed and elected legislators, were American immigrants or their native-born descendants. It also contains detailed information about Hawai'i geography, natural features, place names, the public school system, the economy, prices and production levels of sugar, etc.

The Morgan Report includes eyewitness testimony and documents showing that the U.S. did not encourage the Committee of Safety to overthrow the monarchy, did not pledge any support ahead of time, and did not give any assistance to the revolution as it was unfolding. The Report explains that the purpose of the U.S. landing armed sailors was to protect the lives and property of Americans. Those U.S. peace keepers were also deployed to maintain order in the streets at the request of foreign nations' diplomats in the face of chaos and threatened violence against innocent civilians under circumstances where the monarchy had neither strength nor inclination to maintain order, and the other nations' diplomats had no forces available to protect their own citizens.

So why haven't we seen the Morgan Report before? What has kept this source in the dark for so long? The University of Hawaii Library has a web page containing historical documents from the 1890's including the entire 1397-page Blount Report and all the 660 photographed pages containing 21,269 signatures on an 1897 petition opposing annexation. The project that made those documents available on that web page was funded by two grants totaling $5,500 during a two-year period from UH agencies. The grants were based on the pledge, stated in the grant applications, that the Morgan Report would be included. However, the project stopped short. A footnote currently there says the Morgan Report will eventually be posted, but since 2002, no further grants have been pursued.

Perhaps the intent really was to digitize the Morgan Report. Perhaps it was not excluded on purpose in order to prevent the dissemination of information contrary to the current belief structure of the students, faculty and staff of UH. But now the point is moot - the job unfinished by the University of Hawai'i has been picked up by volunteers.

The morganreport.org website has been developed without any financial support, in the spirit of volunteerism. The editors have independently paid minor expenses for web-hosting and for secure mailing of the original book, and have spent their time fixing and formatting the digitized text without any compensation. Those who participated in the UH Library project, or anyone else, are welcome and encouraged to help finish editing Morgan in that same spirit (see below for more information). Morgan project editors believe scholars, students, and everyone interested in historical accuracy should be proud to spend time on projects like these, especially given their relevance to the politics of today.

Of course, there are detractors who dismiss the Morgan Report as racist, and seek to deny its consideration by anyone involved in the debates over sovereignty and the overthrow. But when reading the Morgan report we must remember that the year was 1894. White people in America did not hesitate to express racial prejudice toward "Negroes" and others with dark skin. White politicians sometimes regarded them as less than fully human, or childlike; or treated them with arrogance and condescension. Slavery had ended only 39 years previously; Negroes were not allowed to vote in the Southern states; and Jim Crow laws were in effect. Some of the U.S. Senators had fought for the Confederate States in the Civil War, including Brigadier General Morgan himself. Some readers may be offended by some of the racial prejudice and condescension contained in some of the testimonies. Some of the Senators also asked witnesses questions about life in Hawai'i indicating those Senators had a woeful lack of knowledge about Hawai'i's high degree of civilization. Today's readers must try to put aside our own prejudice against anyone who spoke in such a way "back in the day." The historical documents and factual eyewitness accounts must be judged on their merits rather than merely dismissing them in the same ad-himinem way that some witnesses dismissed non-whites.

In the interest of making the Morgan Report available as soon as possible, we are releasing it to the public even though substantial portions of it have not yet been given a pretty appearance. The entire report is on the internet and searchable. Hundreds of pages have been made easy to read. Other hundreds of pages are still in the raw form produced by an optical character reader, which delivers the contents of each double-page in the hard-to-read form of continuous text all run together with no paragraph breaks. About 5% of the content, scattered unpredictably throughout every page, is incorrect digitization of letters or numbers the machine "saw" in a photographed page from the original book. A capital "F" might be interpreted by the machine as an "R", especially if there's a fly speck or discoloration on the original document. Editing the individual pages is time-consuming, tedious, and also subject to occasional errors made by exhausted editors. We welcome help in completing this important job. Please contact the editor at editor@morganreport.org if you'd like to volunteer for this project or similar ones in the future.

About the authors

Jere Krischel

Jere sitting at his desk in front of an Ibanez ATK 305

Lives in California. Manager of programming team at Kaiser Permanente Information Technology, Southern California. Graduated USC 1995, B.S. Computer Engineering/Computer Science. Born and raised in Hawai'i. Mixed ancestry, including Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Filipino, German and Irish. Grand uncle Kiyoshi Masunaga died in WWII as part of the 442nd. Played with Punahou School Orchestra in Carnegie Hall 1990. Majority of family still live on Oahu and the Big Island. Attended Punahou School from kindergarten until 11th grade, leaving for early admission to USC Resident Honors Program. Married with two children, son 8, daughter 4 months.

Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.

Ken Conklin at Valley of the Temples cemetery, Temple Valley, Kane'ohe, Hawaii

B.S., M.S., Ph.D University of Illinois, Phi Beta Kappa et. al. Independent scholar and consultant on Hawaiian sovereignty. Formerly Associate Professor of Philosophy and Educational Theory, Boston University 45 publications in scholarly journals Also high school Mathematics teacher. Resident of Kane'ohe since 1992. English/Irish ancestry.

Was the first person with no native ancestry to run for OHA trustee, in 2000, placing 4th out of 20 candidates for one at-large seat (winner was Haunani Apoliona).

Taught a very controversial 12-hour course on Hawaiian Sovereignty at UH Manoa, Fall, 2002; also Mathematics courses at Windward Community College.

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