The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi originated in 1795 with the unification of the independent islands of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi under one government. In 1810 the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauaʻi and Niʻihau joined the Kingdom of Hawai‘i voluntarily and without bloodshed or war. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua. The Kingdom won recognition from major European powers. The United States became its chief trading partner. The Kingdom was watched jealously by the United States against the possibility of another power threatening to seize control. The king lost his absolute power when the kingdom's elites forced him to accept a new constitution in 1887 that provided for constitutional government. Queen Liliʻuokalani, who succeeded Kalākaua in 1891, tried to overthrow the 1887 constitution, but was overthrown in 1893, when her army did not rally to her defense. Hawaii became a republic until the United States annexed it using The Newlands Resolution which was a joint resolution passed on July 4, 1898, by the United States Congress creating the Territory of Hawaii.
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