In 1897 the United States President William McKinley signed the treaty of annexation for the Republic of Hawaiʻi.  But it failed to gain the required two thirds support in the Senate, with only 46 out of 90 senators voting yes.  Hawaii was then supposedly annexed by means of the Newlands Resolution; a domestic congressional law, which required only majority vote in both houses, and no input from Native Hawaiians. Despite the bill being authored by a Democrat, most of the support came from Republicans. It passed the house by a vote of 209 to 91; the yeas included 182 Republicans. It was approved on July 4, 1898, and signed on July 7 by the U.S. President William McKinley. On August 12 a ceremony was held on the steps of ʻIolani Palace to signify an illegal transfer of Hawaiian sovereign lands to the United States. The majority of Hawaiian citizens did not recognize the legitimacy of this event and did not attend.  Queen Liliʻuokalani, Princess Ka'iulani and Princess Elizabeth Kekaʻaniʻau and over 21,000 Hawaiians and residents protested against this annexation and the transferring of lands.

HRH Princess Owana Kaʻōhelelani and the Order of Kamehameha I led the march in 1998 in protest of the fraudulent annexation of Hawaiʻi to the United States.