Committee of Safety

The Great Mahele, instead of fulfilling its stated intention of redistributing land to Hawaiians, became easily exploited by American merchants and sugar barons.

In 1887, a group calling itself the, quote, Citizens Committee of Public Safety, end quote, members of which included Lauren Thurston, grandson of Hiram's colleague Asa Thurston, and Sanford Dole, also descended from missionaries and whose family would go on to start the Dole Pineapple Company, forced King Kalakaua to sign the Bayonet Constitution.

This heavily restricted the king's power in favour of the elected parliament, but instituted property requirements to vote that excluded most native Hawaiians, who had formerly enjoyed universal suffrage.

Six years later, Queen Lili'uakalani attempted to restore the power of the monarchy, but in response, the Committee of Safety deposed her in a coup, which led to Hawaii's annexation by America.