On this day in 1893, a U.S.-backed coup d'état against Queen Lili'uokalani took place, establishing the Republic of Hawaii and beginning the process of U.S. annexation. The U.S. apologized for this in 1993, but did not give the islands back.

The majority of the insurgents were non-natives, and they successfully requested assistance from the U.S. government, who sent 162 sailors to occupy Oahu.

Although the coup forces established an independent republic, they did so with the ultimate goal of the United States annexing the islands, which occurred in 1898.

This revolution and the subsequent annexation of Hawaii signaled an expansion of U.S. imperialist interests. The same year, the U.S. fought and won the Spanish-American War, acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and establishing economic control of Cuba via the Platt Amendment.

In 1993, the U.S. government issued an "Apology Resolution", acknowledging that "the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands".

Hawaiian scholar Dr. Keanu Sai has written about the illegality of the U.S. occupation and annexation, citing an 1893 Executive Agreement between President Grover Cleveland and Queen Lili'uokalani. On June 1st, 2010, Sai filed a lawsuit against President Obama on this basis, demanding the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom government.