Cession | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

“On the evening of Sunday the 23d (February, 1794), agreeably to my promise, I accompanied Tamaahmaah to the morai, and submitted to all the forms, regulations, and restriction of the taboo. “I was not on this, as on the former occasion, purely an idle spectator; but was in some degree one of the actors. Whilst in the morning the principal ceremonies and prayers were performing, I was called upon to give my opinion on several matters that were agitated at one time by the king, and at others by the principal priests.” (Vancouver)

“Amongst these was the propriety of their remaining at peace, or making war against the other islands? The session of the island; and if, by that voluntary measure, they would be considered as the of Great Britain?” “With these, and some, other questions of less importance, I was very seriously interrogated; and I made such answers to each as was consistent with my own situation, and, as I considered, were most likely to tend in future to their happiness and tranquillity. …” “‘On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamaahmaah (Kamehameha) king of Owhyhee (Hawai‘i), in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board his Britannie Majesty’s sIoop Discovery in Karakakooa (Kealakekua) bay, and in the presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop …’” (“The cession, however, was never accepted or ratified by the English Government”.)

“There is no provision in the Constitution by which the national government is specifically authorized to acquire territory; and only by a great effort of the imagination can the substantive power to do so be found in the terms of any or all of the enumerated powers.” “But it is necessary to recognize the fact that there is in this country a national sovereignty. That being conceded, it easily follows that the right to acquire territory is incidental to this sovereignty. It is, in effect, a resulting power, growing necessarily out of the aggregate of powers delegated to the national government by the constitution.”

“The United States has acquired territory through cession, purchase, conquest, annexation, treaty, and discovery and occupation. These methods are permissible under international law and have been approved by the Supreme Court. … The executive and the legislature have performed different roles in the acquisition of territory by each of these means. Unfortunately, the historical practice does not supply a precise explanation of where the Constitution places the power to acquire territory for the United States.”

Hawai‘i Cession to Britain

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