the republic of hawaii was annexed by the united states in 1898. it became the hawaii territory in 1900. hawaii became a state in 1959. the republic had only one president, sanford b. dole. he was also the first territorial governor. between 1893 and 1894, hawaii was under the provisional government of hawaii. it had no formal leader. before 1893, hawaii was a monarchy. queen lili'uokalani was the last queen of hawaii.