World History
James Henderson Blount was an American Congressman from Georgia. He served in the House of Representatives from 1873 to 1893 and also served as the American Minister to Hawaii. However, he is probably best known for his role in issuing one of gospels of the Hawaiian separatist cause.
Blount was active in the Confederate rebel cause during the American Civil War. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private and later as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Second Georgia Battalion for most of the war. He actively fought to destroy the American Union.
After the war, he eventually entered the Congress of the nation he had sought to destroy. He was repeatedly returned to Congress by the voters of his district in Georgia. He may have then been lost to history as an obscure Congressman had not two events happened almost at the same time. The Hawaiian Revolution toppled the Hawaiian monarchy and Grover Cleveland was elected President of the United States of America.
Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat elected to the presidency after the American Civil War. When he took office in 1885, it had been 24 years since a Democrat had been in the Oval Office. In a bitter election in 1888, he won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Benjamin Harrison. When he reclaimed the Presidency after the 1892 presidential election, he looked for ways to embarrass the former Harrison Administration.
Late in Harrison's term as President, the Hawaiian Revolution occurred. Local partisans, almost all of which held Hawaiian citizenship, overthrew the Hawaiian Queen. They set up a temporary government and petitioned to be annexed by the United States. President Cleveland flatly rejected their request. Instead, he sent James Henderson Blount to Hawaii to "investigate" the events of the Hawaiian Revolution.
Blount went to Hawaii. Not surprisingly, he came up with a report that satisfied President Cleveland's desire to cast a poor light on the Harrison Administration. If Blount had intended to give a fair account of the events in Hawaii in 1893, he would have interviewed all witnesses that came forward and he would have had each witness swear an oath. He failed to do both. The witnesses were not required to swear an oath and key witnesses who were unlikely to agree with the report Blount intended to issue were ignored.
James Henderson Blount then issued his seemingly preordained and now famous report in 1894. The Blount Report blamed the United States for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. During the Hawaiian Revolution, American soldiers were asked to land by US Minister Stevens to protect American property in Hawaii. These troops fired no shots, engaged in no battles, occupied not a single Hawaiian government building, and their only impact on the Hawaiian Revolution was the fact that people knew they were present. The local insurgency brought down the Queen. Blount translated this police action by American troops as an illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government by the USA.
Congress was skeptical of the Blount Report. The party of President Cleveland (the Democrats) also controlled Congress. They held an investigation into the Hawaiian Revolution in 1894. It was bipartisan, swore in witnesses, and interviewed many of the witnesses that Blount choose to ignore. It then issued the Morgan Report which completely repudiated the Blount Report. President Cleveland wisely then dropped the issue of Hawaii. The Republic of Hawaii again petitioned for annexation in 1898 and President McKinley honored the request.
Despite the weight of historical evidence, the Blount Report has taken on a life of its own. The Hawaiian separatist community has copied it endlessly and it is present on the many sites which are making the ridiculous claim of "illegal American occupation." And, as a sign of their bias, these sites always fail to have a copy of the Morgan Report online as well. The citation of only historical data you agree with is a sure sign of a bad historical revisionist.
Unfortunately, in 1993, the US Congress passed a ceremonial act with no force of law apologizing for the American actions in Hawaii in 1893. This act was based on the Blount Report and ignored the Morgan Report entirely. There was little debate as is customary in "national cherry pie day" proclamations but this politically correct but historically challenged edict is now consider yet another part of the Hawaiian separatist gospel. If you think Congress is good at history, go back and check out the Iraq War Resolution in 2003 pointing to weapons of mass destruction. Congress was as accurate as the Turkish Parliament was in declaring that no genocide every happened in Armenia...
James Henderson Blount died in 1903. Little did he know, when he first took up arms against the USA in 1861 to destroy the American Union, that his later political actions would serve as a rallying cry for future generations of American separatists. As unlikely as Hawaiian secession is from the USA, if it ever happens, the Blount Report can be cited a major factor. As other parts of the USA (Texas, Alaska, and all of the former Confederacy) can make similar claims of illegal occupation based on supposed illegal acts of annexation, invasion, or being part of the USA against the will of the citizens, a legal precedent set for Hawaii would ripple throughout the American nation. James Henderson Blount, that obscure rebel and separatist from Georgia, may well have more of an impact on history than he ever imagined.
- Were Hawaii And Texas Legally Annexed To The United States?
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World History
James Henderson Blount - American Rebel Separatist
James Henderson Blount was an American Congressman from Georgia. He served in the House of Representatives from 1873 to 1893 and also served as the American Minister to Hawaii. However, he is probably best known for his role in issuing one of gospels of the Hawaiian separatist cause.Blount was active in the Confederate rebel cause during the American Civil War. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private and later as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Second Georgia Battalion for most of the war. He actively fought to destroy the American Union.
After the war, he eventually entered the Congress of the nation he had sought to destroy. He was repeatedly returned to Congress by the voters of his district in Georgia. He may have then been lost to history as an obscure Congressman had not two events happened almost at the same time. The Hawaiian Revolution toppled the Hawaiian monarchy and Grover Cleveland was elected President of the United States of America.
Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat elected to the presidency after the American Civil War. When he took office in 1885, it had been 24 years since a Democrat had been in the Oval Office. In a bitter election in 1888, he won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Benjamin Harrison. When he reclaimed the Presidency after the 1892 presidential election, he looked for ways to embarrass the former Harrison Administration.
Late in Harrison's term as President, the Hawaiian Revolution occurred. Local partisans, almost all of which held Hawaiian citizenship, overthrew the Hawaiian Queen. They set up a temporary government and petitioned to be annexed by the United States. President Cleveland flatly rejected their request. Instead, he sent James Henderson Blount to Hawaii to "investigate" the events of the Hawaiian Revolution.
Blount went to Hawaii. Not surprisingly, he came up with a report that satisfied President Cleveland's desire to cast a poor light on the Harrison Administration. If Blount had intended to give a fair account of the events in Hawaii in 1893, he would have interviewed all witnesses that came forward and he would have had each witness swear an oath. He failed to do both. The witnesses were not required to swear an oath and key witnesses who were unlikely to agree with the report Blount intended to issue were ignored.
James Henderson Blount then issued his seemingly preordained and now famous report in 1894. The Blount Report blamed the United States for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. During the Hawaiian Revolution, American soldiers were asked to land by US Minister Stevens to protect American property in Hawaii. These troops fired no shots, engaged in no battles, occupied not a single Hawaiian government building, and their only impact on the Hawaiian Revolution was the fact that people knew they were present. The local insurgency brought down the Queen. Blount translated this police action by American troops as an illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government by the USA.
Congress was skeptical of the Blount Report. The party of President Cleveland (the Democrats) also controlled Congress. They held an investigation into the Hawaiian Revolution in 1894. It was bipartisan, swore in witnesses, and interviewed many of the witnesses that Blount choose to ignore. It then issued the Morgan Report which completely repudiated the Blount Report. President Cleveland wisely then dropped the issue of Hawaii. The Republic of Hawaii again petitioned for annexation in 1898 and President McKinley honored the request.
Despite the weight of historical evidence, the Blount Report has taken on a life of its own. The Hawaiian separatist community has copied it endlessly and it is present on the many sites which are making the ridiculous claim of "illegal American occupation." And, as a sign of their bias, these sites always fail to have a copy of the Morgan Report online as well. The citation of only historical data you agree with is a sure sign of a bad historical revisionist.
Unfortunately, in 1993, the US Congress passed a ceremonial act with no force of law apologizing for the American actions in Hawaii in 1893. This act was based on the Blount Report and ignored the Morgan Report entirely. There was little debate as is customary in "national cherry pie day" proclamations but this politically correct but historically challenged edict is now consider yet another part of the Hawaiian separatist gospel. If you think Congress is good at history, go back and check out the Iraq War Resolution in 2003 pointing to weapons of mass destruction. Congress was as accurate as the Turkish Parliament was in declaring that no genocide every happened in Armenia...
James Henderson Blount died in 1903. Little did he know, when he first took up arms against the USA in 1861 to destroy the American Union, that his later political actions would serve as a rallying cry for future generations of American separatists. As unlikely as Hawaiian secession is from the USA, if it ever happens, the Blount Report can be cited a major factor. As other parts of the USA (Texas, Alaska, and all of the former Confederacy) can make similar claims of illegal occupation based on supposed illegal acts of annexation, invasion, or being part of the USA against the will of the citizens, a legal precedent set for Hawaii would ripple throughout the American nation. James Henderson Blount, that obscure rebel and separatist from Georgia, may well have more of an impact on history than he ever imagined.
- Were Hawaii And Texas Legally Annexed To The United States?
Free Hawaii has an interesting but I think pointless post up about the American annexation of Hawaii in 1898. It reads, "The United States Congress twice rejected treaties proposing the annexation of Hawai`i. They opted to 'annex' Hawai`i by joint...
- Wacky American Separatists
The world is full of regions and ethnic groups clamoring for independence. Some have valid causes, most do not. Just because you have your own administrative region or history as a people going back thousands of years does not mean you get your own nation...
- Sanford B. Dole's 160th Birthday April 23, 2004
Dole's 160th Birthday April 23, 2004. This is an essay which examines the Hawaiian media coverage of Sanford B. Dole's 160th birthday. Dole was the first and only President of the Republic of Hawaii and under his leadership the Hawaiian people...
- Hawaiian Independence?
Hawaiian Independence? How many states are there in the American Union? It is 50 of course. But some will try to claim there are only 49! How? They misread history by claiming Hawaii is not really an American state. The root of this confusion has to do...
- History Of Hawaii
History of Hawaii. This is a decent (although uneven) history of the American state of Hawaii. Of particular interest is the last paragraph which takes aim at the Hawaiian Independence (separatist) Movement. Hawaiian independence from the USA is no more...