The Newlands Resolution and Hawaii’s Annexation in 1898
President William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution on 7 July 1898. The United States used a joint resolution to authorize annexation after the treaty effort stalled, despite extensive Native Hawaiian opposition.
Sovereignty and organized opposition
Hawaiʻi had been an independent kingdom before the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893. The government that replaced the monarchy sought annexation by the United States, but many Native Hawaiians opposed it. Their response included political organization, public meetings and petition campaigns. These activities are essential to understanding the later annexation: the transfer did not follow a simple expression of shared popular consent. The University of Hawaiʻi presents the petitions as an enduring record of that opposition. Kūʻē petitions.
Why the treaty route stalled
In 1897 an annexation treaty was sent to the United States Senate, where approval required a two-thirds majority. Hawaiian delegates brought an anti-annexation petition bearing 21,269 signatures to Washington and worked to persuade senators. The treaty failed to secure the necessary support. This was a concrete political effect of organized opposition, even though it did not ultimately prevent annexation. Distinguishing the treaty from what followed explains why the same proposed outcome could be pursued through another procedure.
The joint resolution of 7 July
Congress subsequently used a joint resolution, commonly called the Newlands Resolution. President William McKinley signed it on 7 July 1898. The National Archives connects the change in momentum with the strategic concerns of the Spanish-American War. A joint resolution took a different legislative route from a ratified treaty. The date commemorated here is the signing of that measure, rather than the later August ceremony marking the transfer of control. Archives account and resolution record.
Reading the outcome alongside the petitions
The resolution explains the mechanism the United States used; the petitions preserve the voices of those who resisted it. Reading the two together prevents a legislative result from erasing a contested history. Annexation also needs to be distinguished from later territorial administration and eventual statehood. The illustration focuses on documents and readers to evoke the civic struggle. It does not claim that the pictured people, veranda or act of reading were recorded on the day McKinley signed the resolution.
01 Aloha Oe
Hiliu
Hiliu’s later performance of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s song connects to the Hawaiian royal culture and sovereign whose opposition forms part of this history. It is not a recording from 1898 or an annexation celebration.
Listen on SoundCloud ↗Follow the evidence.
- National Archives: the Hawaiian anti-annexation petition and the 1898 resolution ↗
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: the Kūʻē petitions ↗
- Hawaiʻi State Archives: joint resolution approved 7 July 1898 ↗
AI-assisted writing, with institutional and primary sources. Illustration is a reconstruction, not an archival photograph. Published November 1, 2026; updated November 1, 2026. Our approach
