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DS as president, one page, 8 x 10, Executive Mansion letterhead, September 11, 1899. President McKinley directs the Secretary of State to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to “my order directing the discontinuance of the sale or disposition of the public lands in the Hawaiian Islands.” Signed at the conclusion by William McKinley. In fine condition, with a faint crease in the bottom blank area. Accompanied by a period printed copy of Executive Order 121, issued by President McKinley on the same date as this document, which ordered the annulment of all sales or agreements to sell public lands in the Hawaiian Islands made by the Hawaiian government after the adoption of the Joint Resolution of Annexation on July 7, 1898.
On September 11, 1899, McKinley wrote to Secretary of State John Hay: ‘You will notify the President of Hawaii that the Government of Hawaii has no power to make any sale or dispose of the public lands in the Islands. That all proceedings taken or pending for such sale or disposition should be discontinued and that if any sales or agreements for sale have been made since the adoption of the Resolution of Annexation the purchasers should be notified that the same are null and void and any consideration paid to the legal authorities on account thereof should be refunded.’
After the Joint Resolution of Annexation in 1898, Hawaii’s former government technically no longer had sovereignty, but there was confusion over land administration. Local Hawaiian authorities continued to sell and lease public lands under the 1895 Land Act and 1897 Civil Code, as if the annexation had not changed their authority. This created a legal gray area: transactions were being made on lands that were now under U.S. federal jurisdiction, which could later cause disputes or claims against the U.S. government.
McKinley’s order on September 11th formally annulled these post-annexation sales and leases, establishing that only the U.S. government had the authority to manage public lands in Hawaii. It effectively stopped any further transfers made under the old Hawaiian procedures, clearing up the confusion and consolidating federal control. While the order did not address the broader legal status of Hawaiian sovereignty, it was a critical step in the U.S. government's consolidation of control over Hawaii following its annexation.
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