Armed Militia Forces King Kalakaua to Sign "Bayonet Constitution," Stripping Hawaiian Sovereignty and Disenfranchising Native Hawaiians

On July 6, 1887, the Hawaiian League—a secret organization of white American and European businessmen, lawyers, sugar planters, and missionary descendants—backed by the armed Honolulu Rifles militia, forces King Kalakaua at gunpoint to sign a new constitution that radically restructures the Hawaiian …