The Wilcox Rebellions were a plot in 1888, a revolt in 1889, and a counter-revolution in 1895, led by Robert William Wilcox against the governments of Hawaii. He was considered a populist revolutionary and menace to both the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii under King David Kalākaua and the Republic of Hawaiʻi under Sanford Dole. Wilcox’s revolts were part of the Hawaiian Revolutions.
The plot was to overthrow King David Kalākaua, king of Hawaii, and replace him with his sister in a coup d'état.
In 1887, in response to increased political tension between the legislature and the king, a group of government ministers led by Interior Minister Lorrin A. Thurston with the support of the Honolulu Rifles, forced King David Kalākaua to promulgate the Bayonet Constitution. The constitution stripped Asians of their voting rights while at the same time limited suffrage to wealthy Native Hawaiians, Americans and other Europeans. The king's own powers were limited substantially. Hostilities grew over the new constitution that limited mostly non-white commoners' rights and power. Kalākaua's sister, Princess Liliʻuokalani and wife, Queen Kapiolani returned from Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee immediately after news reached them in Great Britain.