July 31, 1898 Lowering of the U.S. Flag in Hawai‘i After Annexation (1898 Observance)

You might think July 31, 1898 marks when Hawaiʻi's flag came down, but no documented ceremony occurred on that date. The Newlands Resolution had already made annexation legally binding on July 7, 1898. The actual flag-lowering happened on August 12, 1898 at ʻIolani Palace, where the Hawaiian flag descended at noon and the U.S. flag took its place. There's much more to this story than the date alone suggests.

Key Takeaways

• No documented ceremonial flag lowering occurred on July 31, 1898; historical records show no official transfer event on that date.
• The formal Hawaiian flag descent happened on August 12, 1898, at ʻIolani Palace, not July 31.
• Annexation became legally binding on July 7, 1898, when President McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution.
• Local recollections sometimes incorrectly associate July 31 with Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea commemorations originating from 1843.
• The August 12 ceremony included the U.S. flag replacing the Hawaiian flag, with the Island National Guard taking oaths of allegiance.

What Actually Happened on July 31, 1898, in Hawaiʻi?

On July 31, 1898, nothing ceremonially significant happened regarding the Hawaiian flag or U.S. annexation. If you search historical records, you'll find no documented flag lowerings, official transfers, or formal annexation events on that date. The Newlands Resolution had already passed on July 7, 1898, making annexation legally binding weeks earlier.

What you might be confusing July 31 with is Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, a date tied to cultural ceremonies honoring Hawaii's 1843 sovereignty restoration. Local recollections sometimes blur this meaningful commemorative day with later annexation events.

The actual formal ceremony, including the Hawaiian flag's descent at ʻIolani Palace, didn't occur until August 12, 1898. So if you're researching July 31, 1898, specifically, you won't find the flag event you're looking for.

How a Simple Majority Vote Handed Hawaiʻi to the United States

Why did a territory the size of Hawaiʻi change hands without a formal treaty? Because a two-thirds Senate majority was never achievable. An 1897 annexation treaty failed exactly for that reason, blocked partly by a massive Native Hawaiian petition opposing the transfer.

So Congress took a different route. Through the Newlands Resolution, a congressional resolution requiring only a simple majority in both chambers, President McKinley signed Hawaiʻi into U.S. possession on July 7, 1898. The Spanish-American War made Hawaiʻi's mid-Pacific position strategically urgent, accelerating the push.

Critics argued then — and continue arguing now — that bypassing the treaty process sidestepped constitutional requirements and ignored Hawaiian consent entirely. That single procedural shortcut fundamentally altered the islands' future without ever asking its people. Similarly, modern governments continue to wrestle with questions of consent and oversight in high-stakes decisions, as seen in Canada's 2024 amendments to the Investment Canada Act which introduced stronger review mechanisms for foreign investments affecting national interests.

How Native Hawaiians Fought Annexation Before the Flag Came Down

Before the Hawaiian flag ever came down, Native Hawaiians were already fighting to keep it up. Through grassroots organizing and petition campaigns, they challenged annexation directly and loudly.

• The 1897 petition gathered over 21,000 Native Hawaiian signatures opposing annexation
• Queen Liliʻuokalani personally delivered protests to the U.S. House and Senate
• The Hawaiian Patriotic League issued formal resolutions citing constitutional violations
• Protesters invoked Republic of Hawaii Constitution Article 32, voiding unratified agreements
• Public testimonies declared, "No flag but the Hawaiian flag"

You can see how organized and deliberate this resistance was. They didn't wait passively. They used legal arguments, collective signatures, and royal advocacy to block what they knew was coming — and nearly succeeded. This kind of principled resistance mirrors the legacy of figures like Elliot Page, whose public advocacy for identity and inclusion demonstrates how individual voices can shape broader cultural and political conversations.

What Happened at the August 12 Annexation Ceremony

Despite all that resistance, the ceremony went ahead. On August 12, 1898, you'd have stood at ʻIolani Palace and watched the Hawaiian flag descend from the mast at noon. The ceremonial symbolism was unmistakable — a sovereign nation's banner coming down, replaced immediately by the Stars and Stripes.

Military presence defined the moment, as the Island National Guard took their oath of allegiance to the United States right there on the palace steps. No royalists attended. No former Hawaiian leadership witnessed it. Pro-annexationists celebrated loudly while Native Hawaiians and royalists mourned what they called colonization.

Photographers documented everything, and those images now sit archived at the Bishop Museum. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser had already declared it settled — "ANNEXATION!: HERE TO STAY!" And now, visually, it was.

What the U.S. Flag Raising Took From Native Hawaiians

When that flag went up, it didn't just replace a banner — it stripped Native Hawaiians of their sovereign nation. You're looking at cultural erasure made official, and economic displacement dressed in ceremony.

What Native Hawaiians lost that day:

• Sovereign governance — their queen removed, their constitution void
• Land rights — crown and government lands seized without compensation
• Political voice — no Hawaiian consent sought or given
• Cultural identity — language, traditions suppressed under U.S. territorial rule
• Economic control — sugar industry elites absorbed wealth previously circulating within Hawaiian society

They didn't attend the ceremony. They didn't celebrate. They mourned — because annexation wasn't a transfer. It was a taking, witnessed beneath a flag they never chose. This pattern of dispossession mirrors how the 1670 Hudson's Bay Company charter legally dismissed Indigenous land claims by assuming Crown authority to grant territories without consultation or consent, erasing political sovereignty through documents rather than warfare.

Why the 1898 Annexation Remains Legally and Politically Contested Today

What happened in 1898 didn't close a legal chapter — it opened one that's still unsettled. You can trace the core dispute to one procedural move: Congress used a joint resolution instead of a treaty, bypassing the two-thirds Senate vote required under international law. That shortcut denied Native Hawaiians any legitimate consent process.

Scholars and sovereignty advocates argue the annexation never met the legal threshold to transfer territory. The 1993 Apology Resolution acknowledged the U.S. role in illegally overthrowing Queen Liliʻuokalani, fueling ongoing sovereignty redress demands.

Indigenous Hawaiian groups continue pushing for federal recognition and land restitution. A parallel can be drawn to Canada's 1914 War Measures Act, which demonstrated how wartime legislative powers can be rapidly enacted to override existing legal frameworks and consent structures. Until the U.S. addresses those unresolved claims, the 1898 annexation remains not just politically contested — but arguably incomplete under any honest legal standard.