Introducing the Morgan Report

The Akaka bill ignores the rest of the story.

To clearly understand 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 the impetus for the sovereignty movement is the 1993 Apology Resolution. Passed with no debate on its merits or validity, this resolution represented a strong condemnation of the United States.

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, the actions of its minister, and the legitimacy of the Provisional Government of Hawai`i.

There is one more source though.

The Morgan Report, submitted on February 26, 1894 after months of testimony and investigation, directly contradicts the Blount Report, and Cleveland's assertions in his message to Congress. It found that the overthrow was a purely internal matter, and that the U.S. troops remained completely neutral. Although the morality of the actions of the Committee of Safety could be debated, the U.S. was simply a neutral bystander in the matter.

As a result of the Morgan Report, President Cleveland, the most stalwart proponent of the Queen, abandoned his earlier views, and 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 that Blount and Cleveland were wrong on the facts surrounding the overthrow, and that the U.S. had not participated in the toppling of the monarchy.

As a result of the Morgan Report, the world can discover that the Apology Bill and the Akaka bill are wrong on the facts surrounding the overthrow as well. The Kingdom of Hawai`i gave way to the Republic of Hawai`i with no aid from the United States of America, and no blame can be attached to the peacekeepers who were landed on January 16, 1893.

The Morgan Report contains 808 pages of historical documents, affidavits from eyewitnesses, and lengthy testimony given in 1894 under oath and subjected to cross examination in open hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee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. It promises to be a valuable resource for students, scholars and the general public for generations to come.

You can now find the Morgan Report at http://morganreport.org. The entire contents of the Morgan Report have been scanned in, digitized, and made available for reading and research.