Queen Liliuokalani was deposed in January 1893 by a group of American and European businessmen, with the support of U.S. Minister John Stevens and a contingent of U.S. Marines.
The Queen surrendered with hopes of being reinstated by President Cleveland. He had motivations to want her throne restored mainly on moral grounds. Because he opposed the conquest of a lesser state by a greater one as well as any form of annexation that would only be an excuse for illicit territorial acquisition.
Sugar plantation owners, mostly white Americans, plotted against Queen Liliuokalani, having US Marines forcing her to abdicate the throne and placing her under house arrest because they believed that having Hawaii annexed by the United States, would make their tariff obstacles disappear.
President Grover Cleveland, a fervent anti-imperialist, thought Americans had behaved shamefully in Hawaii, so he withdrew the annexation treaty to restore Liliuokalani to her throne, but the issue couldn´t be resolved under his government.
