High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Leavitt Stevens (August 1, 1820 – February 8, 1895) was the United States Department of State Minister to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 when he was accused of conspiring to overthrow Queen Liliuokalani in association with the Committee of Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston and Sanford B. Dole – the first Americans attempting to overthrow a foreign government under the auspices of a United States government officer. John L. Stevens, journalist, author, minister, newspaper publisher and diplomat, was also a Maine State Senator who was a founder of the Republican Party in Maine.