The Black Week was a crisis in Honolulu, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

  that nearly caused a war between the Provisional Government

Provisional Government of Hawaii

The Provisional Government of Hawaii abbreviated "P.G." was proclaimed on January 17, 1893 by the 13 member Committee of Safety under the leadership of Sanford B. Dole...

 there and United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Background

President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

 of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 denounced the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Cleveland vowed to reverse the damage done and restore the Kingdom.
Following Overthrow Cleveland launch an investigation headed by James Blount

James Henderson Blount

James Henderson Blount was an American statesman, soldier and congressman from Georgia. He opposed the annexation of Hawaii in 1893 in his investigation into the alleged American involvement in the political revolution in the Kingdom of Hawai'i...

 as United States Minister to Hawaii

United States Minister to Hawaii

The Minister to Hawaii was an office of the United States Department of State to the Kingdom of Hawaii during the period of 1810 to 1898. Appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of Congress, the Minister to Hawaii was equivalent in rank to the present-day ambassador of the...

. known as the Blount Report

Blount Report

The Blount Report is the popular name given to the part of the 1893 United States House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Report regarding the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The report was conducted by U.S. Commissioner James H. Blount, appointed by U.S...

. After the investigation Blount was replaced by Albert Willis

Albert S. Willis

Albert Shelby Willis was a United States Representative from Kentucky and a Minister to Hawaii.-Life:Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Willis attended the common schools, and graduated from the Louisville Male High School in 1860. He taught school for four years before graduating from the University...

 began negotiations between ex-queen Liliuokalani for a US lead invasion to restore the monarchy, but the agreements collapsed.

Crisis

On December 14, 1893, Albert Willis

Albert S. Willis

Albert Shelby Willis was a United States Representative from Kentucky and a Minister to Hawaii.-Life:Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Willis attended the common schools, and graduated from the Louisville Male High School in 1860. He taught school for four years before graduating from the University...

 arrived in Honolulu aboard the USRC Corwin

USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)

The Thomas Corwin was a United States Revenue Cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea...

 unannounced, bringing an anticipation of an American invasion to restore the monarchy. With the hysteria of a military assault, he stimulated fears by staging a mock invasion with the USS Adams

USS Adams (1874)

USS Adams was a screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class.Adams was built as a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer. The ship was laid down in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald MacKay; and was launched on 24 October 1874. The new ship was commissioned on 21 July...

 and USS Philadelphia

USS Philadelphia (C-4)

The fourth USS Philadelphia , also known as "Cruiser No. 4", was a cruiser of the United States Navy.She was laid down 22 March 1888 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, launched 7 September 1889, sponsored by Miss Minnie Wanamaker, daughter of merchant and philanthropist John...

, directing their guns toward the capital. Willis' goal was to maintain fear of the United States to pressure the Provisional Government into forfeiting the island back to the queen or at least to maintain a US invasion as a possible reality, carrying out this to the limit of the Navy remaining officially neutral. He stated there were more than 1,000 men of military age in the city the Provisional Government was arming. Willis ordered rear admiral John Irwin to organize a landing operation

Landing operation

A landing operation is a military action aimed at a bringing the landing force usually via landing craft to a shore or to land with the purpose of power projection ashore by forces coming usually from ships and also aircraft and able to fight....

 using troops on the two American ships. He made no attempt to conceal preparations of the operation, as men readied equipment on deck. The next shipment of mail, news, and information was yet to arrive aboard the Alameda, so until then the public was uninformed of the relations between Hawaii and the U.S. Sanford B. Dole

Sanford B. Dole

Sanford Ballard Dole was a lawyer and jurist in the Hawaiian Islands as a kingdom, protectorate, republic and territory...

, President of Hawaii attempted to quell the anxiety by assuring the public there would be no invasion. On January 3, 1894 public anxiety became critical which gave the incident its name, the “Black Week”. As the anticipation of a conflict intensified in Honolulu Irwin became concerned for American citizens and property in the city, considering he may actually have to land troops to protect them if violence erupted in retaliation for the crisis. The Commanders of the Japanese HIJMS Naniwa

Japanese cruiser Naniwa

was the first protected cruiser built specifically for the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was the lead ship of the s, built in the Armstrong Whitworth shipyard in Great Britain. The name Naniwa comes from an ancient province of Japan, now part of Osaka-fu...

 and the British HMS Champion

HMS Champion

Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Champion:*HMS Champion was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1779. She was reassigned to harbour service in 1810 and sold in 1816.*HMS Champion was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1824...

 asked to join the landing operation, like Irwin, to protect lives and property of their respective nationalities. On January 11, 1894, Willis reveled to Dole the invasion to be a hoax.

Aftermath

Though Willis did not restore the monarchy, he was able to incite doubt in the Hawaiian public over the Provisional Government and communicate that the US was capable of going to war with them. This was one of the factors resulting in the formation of the Republic of Hawaii

Republic of Hawaii

The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands...

. To Cleveland this was an improvement; avoiding annexation left the potential to restore the monarchy and was more favorable in keeping Hawaii an independent country than as a territory of the United States.