Sanford B. Dole

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Lore & Background

Sanford Ballard Dole was born April 23, 1844, in Honolulu to Protestant Christian missionaries from Maine. His father Daniel Dole was principal at Oahu College, and his mother Emily Hoyt Ballard died from complications within days of his birth. Dole attended Oahu College for one year and then Williams College in 1866–1867, later working in a law office in Boston. He married Anna Prentice Cate in 1873 and was commissioned as a Notary Public in Honolulu in December 1880. Dole won the 1884 and 1886 elections to the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a representative from Kauaʻi, serving from 1884 to 1887, during which he was active in securing the constitution of 1887. In June 1887, local businessmen, sugar planters, and politicians backed by the Honolulu Rifles forced the adoption of the 1887 Constitution, which limited voting rights to literate males of Hawaiian, European, and American descent and minimized the power of the monarch. Dole and other lawyers of American descent drafted this document, which became known as the 'Bayonet Constitution.' King Kalākaua appointed Dole a justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii on December 28, 1887, and to a commission to revise judiciary laws on January 24, 1888. After Kalākaua's death, Queen Liliʻuokalani appointed him to her Privy Council on August 31, 1891. The monarchy ended on January 17, 1893, after the 1893 Hawaiian Coup; Dole declined to officially be part of the Committee of Safety but helped draft their declaration. He was named president of the Provisional Government of Hawaii and was recognized within 48 hours by all nations with diplomatic ties to the Kingdom. Dole served as the first and only elected president of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1898. His government secured diplomatic recognition from every nation that had recognized the Kingdom of Hawaii and weathered several attempts to restore the monarchy, including a January 1895 counter-rebellion led by Robert William Wilcox. After being defeated, Wilcox and the other conspirators were captured and sentenced to death, but had their sentences reduced or commuted by Dole. As president, Dole traveled to Washington, D.C., in early 1898 to personally urge annexation of Hawaii by the United States. On July 4, 1898, the U.S. Congress passed the Newlands Resolution to annex the Republic, effective August 12, 1898. Dole then became the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii on June 14, 1900, serving until his resignation on November 23, 1903, to accept an appointment by President Theodore Roosevelt as judge for the U.S. District Court of Hawaii. He served in that post until his retirement on December 16, 1915.

Reader's Guide

Sanford B. Dole's significance lies in his central role during Hawaii's transition from a monarchy to a U.S. territory. As a lawyer and jurist, he helped draft the Bayonet Constitution of 1887, which limited voting rights to literate males of Hawaiian, European, and American descent and minimized the power of the monarch. After the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy, Dole led the Provisional Government and later became the first and only elected president of the Republic of Hawaii. His administration secured annexation by the United States in 1898, after which he served as the first territorial governor and later as a federal judge. Dole's actions were part of a broader movement that ended the Hawaiian Kingdom and integrated Hawaii into the United States. The Blount Report of July 17, 1893, commissioned by President Cleveland, concluded that the Committee of Safety conspired with U.S. ambassador John L. Stevens to land the United States Marine Corps to forcibly remove Queen Liliʻuokalani from power. The Morgan Report of February 26, 1894, concluded that the overthrow was locally based and that American troops had acted merely to protect American property and citizens. Dole's legacy is thus tied to both the establishment of American governance in Hawaii and the displacement of the native monarchy.

Did You Know?

• Dole was named after his maternal uncle, Sanford K. Ballard, a classmate of his father's at Bowdoin College who died in 1841.
• He received an honorary LL.D. degree from Williams College in 1897 in recognition of his service as the first and only elected president of Hawaii.
• As president of the republic, Dole traveled to Washington, D.C., in early 1898 using a private railcar named 'Guadalupe' supplied by Henry E. Huntington.
• Dole commuted the death sentences of Robert William Wilcox and other conspirators after the January 1895 counter-rebellion.
• He died after a series of strokes on June 9, 1926, and his ashes were interred in the cemetery of Kawaiahaʻo Church.