Professional Documents
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Dole
Sanford B. Dole
Sanford Dole
Governor of Hawaii
In office
14 June 1900 23 November 1903
Appointed by
William McKinley
Preceded by
Position Established
Succeeded by
George Carter
President of Hawaii
In office
4 July 1894 14 June 1900
Preceded by
Position Established
Succeeded by
Position Abolished
Personal details
Born
23 April 1844
Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii
Died
9 June 1926
Honolulu, Hawaii
Political party
Republican Party
Spouse(s)
Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 June 9, 1926) was a lawyer and jurist in the Hawaiian Islands as a
kingdom, protectorate, republic and territory. Serving as an enemy of the Hawaiian royalty and friend of the elite
immigrant community, Dole advocated the westernization of Hawaiian government and culture.
Sanford B. Dole
Early years
Dole was born April 23, 1844 in Honolulu to Protestant Christian missionaries from Maine in the United States. His
father was Daniel Dole (18081878) principal at Punahou School and mother was Emily Hoyt Ballard (18081844).
His mother died from complications within a few days of his birth. Dole was named after his uncle, Sandford K.
Ballard who was a classmate of his father's at Bowdoin College (and brother of his mother) who died in 1841. He
was nursed by a native Hawaiian, and his father remarried to Charlotte Close Knapp in 1846. In 1855 the family
moved to Kloa on the island of Kauai, where they operated another school.
Dole attended Punahou school for one year, and then Williams College in 18661867. He worked in a law office in
Boston for another year, and although he never attended law school, he received an honorary LL.D. degree from
Williams in 1897. In December 1880 he was commissioned as a Notary Public in Honolulu. Dole won the 1884 and
1886 elections to the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a representative from Kauai.
Bayonet Constitution
In June 1887 local businessmen, sugar planters and politicians backed by the Honolulu Rifles forced the dismissal of
the cabinet of controversial Walter M. Gibson and adoption of the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii. It
limited voting rights to literate men of Hawaiian, European, or American descent while imposing income and wealth
requirements to vote for the House of Nobles, thus effectively consolidating power with the elite residents. In
addition, it minimized the power of the monarch in favor of more influential governance by the cabinet. Dole and
other lawyers of American descent drafted this document, which became known as the "Bayonet Constitution".
King Kalkaua appointed Dole a justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii on December 28, 1887, and
to a commission to revise judiciary laws on January 24, 1888. After Kalkaua's death, his sister Queen Liliuokalani
appointed him to her Privy Council on August 31, 1891.
With Grover Cleveland's election as President of the United States, the Provisional Government's hopes of
annexation were derailed for a time. Indeed, Cleveland tried to directly help reinstate the monarchy, after an
investigation led by James Henderson Blount. The Blount Report of July 17, 1893, commissioned by President
Cleveland, concluded that the Committee of Safety conspired with U.S. ambassador John L. Stevens to land the
United States Marine Corps, to forcibly remove Queen Liliuokalani from power, and declare a Provisional
Government of Hawaii consisting of members from the Committee of Safety.
Sanford B. Dole
On November 16, 1893, Albert Willis presented the Queen with Cleveland's request that she grant amnesty to the
Revolutionists in return for reinstatement. The Queen refused, and, according to Willis, demanded capital
punishment for those involved. On December 23, unaware that Cleveland had referred the matter to Congress, Willis
presented the Provisional Government with Cleveland's demand to restore the queen to the throne the Provisional
Government refused.
Queen Liliuokalani wrote in her book Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, that she did not demand capital
punishment.
The Morgan Report of February 26, 1894, concluded that the overthrow was locally based, motivated by a history of
corruption of the monarchy, and that American troops only served to protect American property and citizens and had
no role in the end of the Hawaiian Monarchy.
The Provisional Government held a constitutional convention and on July 4, 1894, established the Republic of
Hawaii.
Queen Liliuokalani provided a more detailed story of the events from her perspective in the later chapters of her
book.
Sanford B. Dole
In Hawaiian, the pale and hair-like Spanish moss is called umiumi-o-Dole, meaning "Dole's beard".
Wigglesworth Dole
(17791845)
Daniel Dole
(18081878)
George Hathaway
Dole
(18421912)
Sanford Ballard
Dole
(18441926)
Elizabeth Haskell
(17881877)
Nathan Dole
(18111855)
Elizabeth Dole
(18151863)
Isaiah Dole
(18191892)
Nathan Haskell
Dole
(18521935)
Edmund Pearson
Dole
(18501928)
James Drummond
Dole
(18771958)
References
[1] (Dedication speech)
Further reading
Ethel Moseley Damon (1957). Sanford Ballard Dole and his Hawaii: With an analysis of Justice Dole's legal
opinions (http://books.google.com/books?id=AesuAAAAIAAJ). Published for the Hawaiian Historical Society
by Pacific Books.
Helena G. Allen (June 1988). Sanford Ballard Dole: Hawaii's only president, 1844-1926 (http://books.google.
com/books?id=SRZzAAAAMAAJ). A. H. Clark Company. ISBN978-0-87062-184-0.
Sanford B. Dole
Political offices
Precededby
Liliuokalani
as Queen of Hawaii
President of Hawaii
1893 1900
First
Territorial Governor of
Hawaii
1900 1903
Succeededby
George R. Carter
Legal offices
Precededby
Morris M. Estee
Succeededby
Horace W. Vaughan
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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