Robert William Wilcox

Robert William Wilcox Kalanihiapo (* February 15, 1855 in Maui, Hawaii Kingdom, † October 23, 1903 in Honolulu, Hawaii ) was a Hawaiian and American politician. Between 1899 and 1902 he represented as a delegate the Hawaii Territory in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years

Robert Wilcox grew up in the Kingdom of Hawaii, where he attended the public schools. He then worked for several years as a school teacher and was a deputy in the legislature of that State. Between 1881 and 1885 he studied at the Italian Military Academy in Turin. By 1887, he remained in Italy. Then he was called back by the government of Hawaii. Between 1887 and 1889 he worked in San Francisco in the land surveying.

Revolutionary activities in Hawaii

In 1889, he was a leader of a revolutionary movement in Hawaii. He was then charged with treason, but acquitted by a court. Then he was again deputy in the national parliament of Hawaii. In 1895 he was once again the leader of a failed rebellion, to bring back to the throne with the aim of the overthrown Queen Liliuokalani. This time he was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to a 35 -year sentence. In 1898, Wilcox was then pardoned.

Wilcox in the U.S. Congress

After the annexation of Hawaii by the United States Robert Wilcox was elected as the first delegate of the newly created Territory of Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. This mandate he held between November 6, 1900 to March 3, 1903. Wilcox was the only congress delegates from Hawaii, who did not belong to one of the two major U.S. parties. He was a member of the so-called Home Rule Party of Hawaii. In the elections of 1902 he was not re-elected. Robert Wilcox died a few months after the end of his time in Congress on October 23, 1903 in Honolulu, the capital of the territory.