>> located about 24 miles from honolulu, it is a 4,000 acre private nature reserve, working cattle rafrpbl, tourist attraction and filming location. it is considered one of the most sacred places on the island of oahu. coming up, we continue our special look at hawaii with a isit to iolani palace. >> iolani palace was the last official residence of the monarch in hawaii. it was built as a message to the world. we're modern, we can do business with you. hawaii by the time that palace was built, internationally recognized by over half of the intonations. so we were an intonation,

constitutional monarchy. diplomatic relations and recognized by the major powers of the world, great britain, france, the united states, russia. so we had our feelers out everywhere to try to do business to make hawaii a stronger nation. education was really important. by the time this palace was built, completed in 1882, hawaii d an almost 100% adult ill literacy rate. iolani palace, the building ehmeha. he statue of kam the size of the windows and shutters allow for cross ventilation. when you're stand up stores

you'll where you can open windows, close shutters, the winds can come in and keep the building a lot cooler. this was a place where they would entertain. traditionally in hawaii a royal would have a compound where they would have a structure where they would have meetings and audiences and entertain and other structures for cooking, eating food, hanging out with family and sleeping. this is where he did his entertaining. one of the interesting facts about the palace is the staircase is the only staircase. normally in homes of this size, you have a back stairs for staff. didn't happen here. i kind of suspect it has to do with the fact that the men designing the palace, the men working to have the palace built had not seen a back stairs so they just built the one staircase. also he like sd new technology.

in the original construction there was hot and cold running water, telephones, gas light. gaslights were replaced by electric lights in 1887. it has electric lights four years before the white house in washington, d.c. if you had been visiting hawaii in the 19th century, they would have invited you and the rest of your crew and would have grilled you about what you were doing here, why you were here, what you wanted to see and then he would have connected you with the people you wanted to meet. the more i read about the guests the more convinced i am he was networking. in the regime right now in the case are western symbol s of rank. order for his coronation.

that seems to be the only time they were actually used or worn. awaiian symbols of rank. and between the thrones. they stood in front of a royal residence and proceeded royalty in processions. -- preceded royalty in processions. the royal family according to 19th century newspaper articles tends to stand in front of the thrones rather than sit on them. that is usually a frequently asked question. who sat where? well, they stood in front of the dais, with their honored guests, who would be from all over the globe. the two gowns you see in the room today, the lilac gown is a copy of the gown that liliuokalani had made shortly

after she became queen. the peacock gown is a copy that his wife wore to the golden jubilee in london. victoria became queen when -- was 7 months old. he sent his wife, his sister and about five other people to england to represent the hawaiian kingdom in london at the events there. queen victoria asked the women in attendance to wear something that would remind the rest of their guests of their home countries. ip clani chose feathers. traditionally in hawaii the royalty used feathers. these are two of four gowns we have recreated. another gown is a black gown with yellow feather lei, also a for the london trip and

black ribbon gown that liliuokalani had made for the trip to london. liliuokalani is in that gown in her portrait which is in the blue room. this is the imprisonment room. liliuokalani became queen in 1891 after her brother's death. two years later, when she attempted to introduce a new constitution which would have returned voting rights and taken away if the noncitizen residents who had been allowed to vote, she was illegally overthrown by a group of 13 local residents of american and european ancestry. they created a provisional government. they were immediatelyly recognized and this caused him some problems career-wise. according to u.s. constitutional

law, only congress and the president can recognize foreign governments . the provisional government sent a commission to washington, d.c. to lobby for annexation. they were supported by president arrison. liliuokalani's supporters sent a commission to lobby against annexation. harrison was a lame duck president. cleveland became president. he withdrew the treaty from congress and decided instead of listening to two commissions that had come from hawaii, for and guest annexation, he wanted to know for himself what was going on so he sent out a special commissioner, commissioner blout, came to hawaii, did an investigation, looked at legal documents and the constitutions and the

provisional government proclamation. he did interviews. his 1,400-page report concluded as far as the united states is concerned, liliuokalani is the person we should be dealing with on a diplomatic level. in the meantime, liliuokalani supporters were making plans to restore her and her political party to power. the they began hearing rumors and arrested over 100 individuals and tried and convicted them of treason and sentenced them to death. liliuokalani was arrested in january of 1895 and she was brought here and he would prisoner in this suite of rooms for a period a little over eighth months. the quilt in this case was begun so she could speak to the future about who she was and what had happened to her. the second panel was

autbiographical. she was eventually allowed writing materials. he music became a great comfort to her during this time. er song, "a queen's prayer." she had to undergo a trial in what had been her throne where she was convicted of being an access troy the plot and sentenced to five years of hard labor. shortly before the trial, she abdicated for her and her successors in exchange for having the sentences of the people who had been convicted commuted from death to life. liliuokalani was eventually paroled and pardoned as were all the other people that had been convicted. after her pardon, traveled to washington, d.c. to lobby against annexation. assisted by 90% of the hawaiian community.

the lobbying efforts failed. we were annexed in 1998 and became a territory in june of 1,900. liliuokalani lived another 17 years. she died at age 79 in 1917. but we would rather imagine or remember her for her music or for 150 compositions to her credit. she also created a trust directing her trust dwrees direct children who lost parent or living in extreme poverty. today 100-plus years after her death, our last queen is caring for her community today. the iolani palace represents a time when we were an independently, internationally recognized intonation. this represents who we were as a community and it is a point of pride because we were powerful

nd independent and in control. our cities tour staff recently traveled to hawaii to learn about its rich history. learn more about hawaii and her stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on -span 3. pull its her prize winning author jerry dean brooks is our guest on in depth. her most recent book "the secret cord." her other books include "march," kaleb's crossing. live sunday from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern on book tv and be sure to watch in depth the

fiction edition month. n book tv on c-span 2. next we interview math you ckinley. next we interview massee mckinley, a descendent of grover cleveland and president mckinley. host: you are here because you work with the organization but also because you are the descendent of two presidents. massee: on my maternal side am related to grover cleveland, and