Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hui Lei Mamo

Hawaiʻi’s last King, Kalākaua, has been referred to as a Renaissance man. Concerned about the loss of native Hawaiian culture and traditions, Kalākaua encouraged the transcription of Hawaiian oral traditions, and supported the revival of and public performances of the hula.

He advocated a renewed sense of pride in such things as Hawaiian mythology, medicine, chant and hula. Ancient Hawaiians had no written language, but chant and hula served to record such things as genealogy, mythology, history and religion.

While seeking to revive many elements of Hawaiian culture that were slipping away, the King also promoted the advancement of modern sciences, art and literature.

He is remembered as the “Merrie Monarch” because he was a patron of culture and arts, and enjoyed socializing and entertaining.

All of Kalakaua’s dancers were kept on retainer and were given a place to live on the palace grounds. These dancers, musicians, and chanters were all compensated for performing. Dancing the hula for entertainment was their source of income. (Tong)

Kalākaua believed his nation and people would prosper with cultural rebirth and brought hula teachers from the countryside and neighboring islands to his court. At his 1883 coronation and 1886 50th birthday jubilee, Kalākaua’s dancers performed publicly on palace grounds for about two weeks on each occasion. (Imada)

“Kalākaua always had dancers in his court dancing for his pleasure…. There were parties for his guests from the mainland on their way to Australia with dancers as well. They weren’t only for his friends, but for everyone in Honolulu.” (Kupahu; Tong)

Through chanted poetry and bodily movements, these hula performers celebrated the births and achievements of ali‘i, recorded the genealogies of high chiefs, and relayed Hawaiian epics. Hula was also embedded in a culture of sexual arousal.

In 1886, the same year of his jubilee, Kalākaua assembled Hui Lei Mamo, a group of eight Hawaiian women and girls under the age of 20. Hui Lei Mamo was a ‘glee club’; it performed acculturated hula performance as well as choral music. (Imada)

As a member of the royal family and the reigning monarch of Hawai‘i, King Kalākaua had the rightful authority to dictate when the hula would be performed. (Tong)

While Kalākaua’s older court dancers performed pre-contact forms of hula with indigenous instrumentation and chanting, the young women of Hui Lei Mamo performed only the hula ku‘i, ‘the modern hula’.

An acculturated dance that developed in the king’s cosmopolitan court, hula ku‘i merged Western music and instruments with traditional hula steps. It is suggested that Kalākaua himself was the inventor of this hybrid genre …

“[The king] took some steps out of the old-fashioned [hula] and put them into the modern [hula] with guitar. He was the first one to start this.” (Kapahu; Imada)

Performed in Hawaiian language and accompanied by guitar and ’ukulele, this hula utilized polka or waltz tempos, couplet verses and a vamp that separated the verses.

Every Thursday afternoon from 2 to 5 pm, Kalākaua invited friends and out-of-town guests to Healani, his boathouse in Honolulu Harbor, where his younger court dancers performed hula ku‘i. (Imada)

When Kalākaua died in 1891, the dancers no longer had a place in court. Nevertheless, they continued to benefit directly from Kalākaua’s cultural renaissance through training in hula ‘schools’.

Called hālau hula or pā hula, these schools became gendered institutions through which a critical subset of Hawaiian women received rigorous training in performance, history, religion and protocol.

Namake‘elua (who is sometimes recorded as Nama-elua), a hula teacher Kalākaua summoned for his jubilee, had decided to remain in Honolulu instead of returning to his home on the island of Kaua‘i.

The handful of students undertook training in hula genres associated with Indigenous pre-European contact traditions, very different from the hula ku‘i of the court. (Imada)

Four women entered the hālau hula. Three of them were Hui Lei Mamo dancers. Their intensive training commenced in 1892, with the young women taking residence in the teacher’s home.

For about six weeks, the dancers were kapu (sacred or consecrated). They dedicated themselves to the goddess Laka, the patron of hula, and erected a hula kuahu (altar), imploring Laka to give them knowledge.

They danced for about six hours a day, taking swims in the ocean and meals in between practices. The repertoire was ‘very religious’. Hula practice was a part of a sacred realm and governed by strict rules, because hula performances manifested the gods’ and ali‘i’s mana (sacred power) and rank.

On the day of the ‘ūniki (ritual graduation), graduates of other hula schools came to watch the four women dance. Only after undergoing ‘ūniki were they released from sacredness and became noa (free). The following day, they celebrated their release with a feast and public performance for friends and family.

In 1893, some of these dancers went to the Chicago World’s Fair as part of the Midway Plaisance, a street of themed villages from around the world. The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair was the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World.

The Midway Plaisance was inspired by the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, where the French government and prominent anthropologists turned representations of the French colonies into ethnological villages featuring people from Africa and Asia. (Tong)

The performers who went abroad directly benefited from King David Kalākaua’s national revival of hula and traditional cultural arts during his reign from 1872 to 1891. (The image is believed to be the members of Hui Kei Mamo.)

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Kini Kapahu

Ana Kini Kapahukulaokamāmalu Ku‘ululani McColgan Huhu (Kini Kapahu – Jennie Wilson) was born March 4, 1872, the daughter of a Hawaiian woman and an Irish immigrant to Hawai‘I, John N. McColgan.

As an infant, she was adopted by a Hawaiian woman, Kapahukulaokamāmalu, who was an expert chanter, hula performer, and friend of Queen Kapi‘olani, Kalākaua’s consort. She and her adoptive mother lived on a property adjacent to the royal palace. (Imada)

“Kalākaua always had dancers in his court dancing for his pleasure…. There were parties for his guests from the mainland on their way to Australia with dancers as well. They weren’t only for his friends, but for everyone in Honolulu.” (Kupahu; Tong)

In 1886, the same year of his jubilee, Kalākaua assembled Hui Lei Mamo, a group of eight Hawaiian women and girls under the age of 20. Hui Lei Mamo was a ‘glee club’; it performed acculturated hula performance as well as choral music. (Imada)

Kapahu was fourteen years old when she joined Kalākaua’s hula court; other members of the group included Pauahi Pinao, Annie Grube (transliterated in Hawaiian as Ani Gurube), Malie Kaleikoa, Aiala and Namakokahai. All the girls were daughters of court retainers except for Kapahu. (Imada)

As a member of the royal family and the reigning monarch of Hawai‘i, King Kalākaua had the rightful authority to dictate when the hula would be performed. (Tong)

While Kalākaua’s older court dancers performed pre-contact forms of hula with indigenous instrumentation and chanting, the young women of Hui Lei Mamo performed only the hula ku‘i, ‘the modern hula’.

An acculturated dance that developed in the king’s cosmopolitan court, hula ku‘i merged Western music and instruments with traditional hula steps. It is suggested that Kalākaua himself was the inventor of this hybrid genre …

“[The king] took some steps out of the old-fashioned [hula] and put them into the modern [hula] with guitar. He was the first one to start this.” (Kapahu; Imada)

When Kalākaua died in 1891, the dancers no longer had a place in court. Nevertheless, they continued to benefit directly from Kalākaua’s cultural renaissance through training in hula ‘schools’, called hālau hula or pā hula.

Namake‘elua (who is sometimes recorded as Nama-elua), a hula teacher Kalākaua summoned for his jubilee, had decided to remain in Honolulu instead of returning to his home on the island of Kauai.

The handful of students undertook training in hula genres associated with Indigenous pre-European contact traditions, very different from the hula ku‘i of the court. (Imada)

Four women entered the hālau hula – three of them were Hui Lei Mamo dancers, including Kapahu. Their intensive training commenced in 1892, with the young women taking residence in the teacher’s home.

For about six weeks, the dancers were kapu (sacred or consecrated). They dedicated themselves to the goddess Laka, the patron of hula, and erected a hula kuahu (altar), imploring Laka to give them knowledge.

They danced for about six hours a day, taking swims in the ocean and meals in between practices. The repertoire was ‘very religious’. Hula practice was a part of a sacred realm and governed by strict rules, because hula performances manifested the gods’ and ali‘i’s mana (sacred power) and rank.

On the day of the ‘ūniki (ritual graduation), graduates of other hula schools came to watch the four women dance. Only after undergoing ‘ūniki were they released from sacredness and became noa (free). The following day, they celebrated their release with a feast and public performance for friends and family.

At the end of their graduation, Kapahu and three others graduates and two men as chanters and musicians were chosen to go to Chicago for the Exposition in 1893. They were the first hula dancers to dance on the mainland, or for that matter, anywhere in the Western world. (Kealiinohomoku)

They were a ‘smashing success’. While they left the Islands with a 6-months contract, they extended their tour for four years, during the time they travelled over Europe and Russia. (Kealiinohomoku)

“On the way back from Europe, Jennie met Johnny Wilson in Chicago. They were both 24. He was managing a tour of Hawaiian Band — another big hit on the vaudeville circuit. They’d been childhood playmates. Now they simply fell in love.”

However, “Back home in Honolulu, Johnny’s mother refused to allow him to marry a hula dancer. … Johnny and Jennie respected his mother’s feelings, but finally she passed on and in 1908 they were married.” Kapahu then became known as Jennie Wilson.

“Johnny became a builder of sewer systems, roads, breakwaters and even of the highway over the Pali. And he built respect for social new deals along democratic lines and that’s why the people of Hawaii came to love and respect him”. (Honolulu Record, November 21, 1957)

Johnny Wilson brought Jennie to Pelekunu to live in 1902. The entry in Johnny’s diary for Tuesday, April 8, 1902, reads, “Arrived Pelekunu & occupied Koehana’s house”. According to Bob Krauss, Jennie was “one of Hawai‘i’s premier hula dancers” and not used to country life; the Hawaiians in the valley wondered how long Jennie would stick it out.

In the beginning Johnny and Jennie lived at the shore, but sometime after the 1903 tsunami Johnny built Jennie a house farther back in the valley. Later, Johnny bought Jennie a piano, the only one in Pelekunu. (Krauss)

Jennie did stick it out for quite a while. She helped teach the children in Pelekunu and ran their taro operation while Johnny was away. Eventually, however, Jennie did leave the valley; in the summer of 1914, Jennie finally got tired of the rain. She staged a one-woman mutiny and moved to a drier place on Molokai at Kamalō, where Johnny had a cattle ranch.

Wilson tried to aid the small native Hawaiian farmers by arranging for a steamer schedule to remote taro- and rice-producing areas. When his plans for a commercial line fell through Wilson convinced the federal administration to place a post office in Pelekunu, guaranteeing regular steamer visits to deliver the mail. (Cook)

However, when his wife left (she was postmistress,) no one filled the post and the post office closed. The steamships tried to keep regular schedules to Pelekunu to support the valley’s residents. However, they were not regular enough and eventually others abandoned Pelekunu valley, deeming it as too isolated to remain viable in a cash economy. (Cook)

John (Johnny) Henry Wilson was born December 15, 1871 to Charles Burnett (CB) Wilson and Eveline (Townsend) Wilson. His parents’ friends included the John and Lydia Dominus (Lili‘uokalani) and Kalākaua.

“We had known Mr. Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife. My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.” (Liliʻuokalani)

During her imprisonment, Queen Liliʻuokalani was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson – Johnny’s mother.) Johnny would bring newspapers hidden in flowers from the Queen’s garden; reportedly, Liliʻuokalani’s famous song Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (written while imprisoned,) was dedicated to him (it speaks of the flowers at her Waikiki home, Paoakalani.).

Johnny Wilson got involved with politics and is credited as being the most important Democrat in the first half of 20th-century Hawaiʻi; his name is used with Jack Burns in the party movement. He was in a meeting on April 30, 1900 that organized the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi.

He would serve three stints as mayor: 1920 to 1927, 1929 to 1931 and 1946 to 1954. (From 1941 to 1946, he was Director of Public Works.) Jennie Wilson made her most significant strides for women’s rights in 1919 as first lady to the Honolulu mayor.

She organized what’s considered “the first meeting of women in the territory to discuss the new sphere of womanhood” that the 1920s suffrage movement ushered in. (Hawai‘i Magazine) Johnny Wilson passed away on July 2, 1956 at the age of 84; Jennie Wilson died July 23, 1962 at the age of 90.

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Kini_Kapahu,_c._1890s
Kini_Kapahu,_c._1890s
Kini_Kapahu,_c._1896
Kini_Kapahu,_c._1896
Kini-Kapahu (center, standing) Liliuokalani's_Lei_Mamo_Singing_Girls_(PP-32-8-014)
Kini-Kapahu (center, standing) Liliuokalani’s_Lei_Mamo_Singing_Girls_(PP-32-8-014)
Jennie Wilson (L)
Jennie Wilson (L)
Hula touring troupe in San Francisco-PP-32-8-008-1892
Hula touring troupe in San Francisco-PP-32-8-008-1892

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Overthrow

Some suggest the overthrow of the Hawai‘i constitutional monarchy was neither unexpected nor sudden.

Dissatisfaction with the rule of Kalākaua and Lili‘uokalani initially led to the ‘Bayonet Constitution,’ then, the overthrow. “(M)ounting dissatisfaction with government policies and private acts of officials led to the formation of the Hawaiian League, a group of Honolulu businessmen.” (Forbes)

Challenges with Kalākaua
• Polynesian Confederacy
• “(Gibson) discerned but little difficulty in the way of organizing such a political union, over which Kalākaua would be the logical emperor, and the Premier of an almost boundless empire of Polynesian archipelagoes.” (Daggett; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 6, 1900)

Opium License Bribery Case
• Initially the king, through his minister of foreign affairs, disclaimed any involvement. However, “To cap the climax of the opium matter, the Attorney General proceeds to acknowledge that the money was paid over by the Chinese … (H)e informed the gentlemen interested in getting the money back that he would never accomplish his object so long as he allowed the newspaper to speak of the affair.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 17, 1887)

Extravagance/Debt
• Although Kalākaua had been elected and serving as King since 1874, upon returning from a trip around the world (1881), it was determined that Hawaiʻi’s King should also be properly crowned.
• “ʻIolani Palace, the new building of that name, had been completed the previous year (1882), and a large pavilion had been erected immediately in front of it for the celebration of the coronation. This was exclusively for the accommodation of the royal family; but there was adjacent thereto a sort of amphitheatre, capable of holding ten thousand persons, intended for the occupation of the people.” (Liliʻuokalani)

Bayonet Constitution (1887)
• In 1887, the struggle for control of Hawaiʻi was at its height with David Kalākaua on the throne. But some of the businessmen were distrustful of him. “So the mercantile element, as embodied in the Chamber of Commerce, the sugar planters, and the proprietors of the ‘missionary’ stores, formed a distinct political party, called the ‘down-town’ party, whose purpose was to minimize or entirely subvert other interests, and especially the prerogatives of the crown, which, based upon ancient custom and the authority of the island chiefs, were the sole guaranty of our nationality.” (Liliʻuokalani)

Concern with Lili‘uokalani’s Attempt to Rewrite the Constitution
• “When Lili‘uokalani became Queen, she took the following oath: ‘I solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God, to maintain the Constitution of the Kingdom whole and inviolate, and to govern in conformity therewith.’” (UH Law School)
• “On January 14, 1893, Lili‘uokalani was prepared to ignore the constitutionally mandated approval-by-two-successive Legislatures process for amending the 1887 Constitution by announcing a new constitution in place of Kalākaua’s 1887 Constitution.” (UH Law School)
• “She did not do so because the Cabinet she appointed on January 13, 1893, refused her authorization request. The members of that Cabinet were Samuel Parker, William Henry Cornwell, Jr,, Arthur P. Peterson and John Colburn. Parker was a Native Hawaiian.” (UH Law School)

Some Native Hawaiian Dissatisfaction with the Acts of Kalākaua and Lili‘uokalani
• Robert W Wilcox – the man who figured so prominently & conspicuously in the revolution of 1889 (All quotes from Wilcox, Morgan Report)
o “Queen Lili‘uokalani brought these evils upon herself and the country both by her personal corruption, and that of her Government.”
o “I believe that if we can be annexed to the United States, the rights of all of our citizens, and especially those of the native Hawaiians, will be protected more carefully than they have ever been under the monarchy.”
o “They are naturally somewhat prejudiced against (the Provisional Government), as monarchy is the only form of Government with which they are familiar, but this feeling will quickly wear away as the Hawaiians are led to see that the Government is friendly to them and their interests. They already have confidence in the integrity and patriotism of President Dole.
o “I have repeatedly (advocated annexation to the United States) in public meetings held in this city. … but I am compelled to move cautiously or I shall lose my influence over them. I believe I am doing a good work by constantly conversing with them on the subject.”
o “I have told my countrymen that the monarchy is gone forever, and when they ask me what is the best thing to follow it I tell them annexation, and I firmly believe that in a very short time every Hawaiian will be in favor of that step.” (Robert W Wilcox – the man who figured so prominently & conspicuously in the revolution of 1889; Morgan Report)

Repeated Changes in Cabinet Ministers in the Kalākaua and Lili‘uokalani Reigns
• “Under every constitution prior to 1887 the ministers were appointed by the King and removed by him; but until Kalākaua’s reign it was a very rare thing that any King changed his ministry. They had a pretty long lease of political life.” (Judd; Blount Report)
• “It was a very rare political occurrence, and made a great sensation when a change was made.” (Judd; Blount Report) if

January 14, 1893 Lili‘uokalani’s Ministers Refused to Support Her Constitution – Threats of Bloodshed were Made Against Her Cabinet Ministers
• “The Queen retired to the blue room and summoned the ministers (Samuel Parker – Minister of Foreign Affairs; John F Colburn – Minister of Interior; William H Crowell – Minister of Finance; Arthur P Peterson – Attorney General) who repaired at once to the palace. The Queen was at a table, still dressed in the magnificent costume of the morning, and sparkling in a coronet of diamonds.”
• “She at once presented them with the draft of the new constitution, demanded their signatures, and declared her intention to promulgate the same at once.”
• “Attorney-general Peterson and Minister of Interior Colburn decidedly refused to do so, and Ministers Cornwell and Parker, though more hesitatingly, joined their colleagues in this refusal.”

The Provisional Government (and subsequent Republic, Territory & State) did not steal the land from the Hawaiian people – Crown Lands Remain in the Public Trust
• Crown and Government Lands, though under the control of changing sovereigns and governments (Kingdom to Provisional Government to Republic to Territory to State,) were in and continue to remain in the ‘public domain’ for the public good.
• US Court of Claims concluded, “The constitution of the Republic of Hawai‘i, as respects the crown lands, provided as follows: ‘That portion of the public domain heretofore known as crown land is hereby declared to have been heretofore, and now to be, the property of the Hawaiian Government …” (Lili‘uokalani v The United States, 1910)
• We now generally refer to the Crown and Government Lands as ‘ceded’ lands. Under the Admission Act, about 1.2-million acres are to “be held by (the) State as a public trust” to promote one or more of five purposes:
o support of the public schools and other public educational institutions
o betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians (per the Hawaiian Homes Act, 1920)
o development of farm and home ownership on as widespread a basis as possible
o making of public improvements
o provision of lands for public use

The United States does not have to acquire property only through a Treaty of Annexation with a concurring vote by the US Senate.
• Annexation of Hawai‘i to the US was not a hostile takeover, it was something the Republic of Hawai‘i sought. “There was no ‘conquest’ by force in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands nor ‘holding as conquered territory;’ they (Republic of Hawai‘i) came to the United States in the same way that Florida did, to wit, by voluntary cession”. (Territorial Supreme Court; Albany Law Journal)
• “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.” (Legal Issues Raised by Proposed Presidential Proclamation To Extend the Territorial Sea, October 4, 1988)

To read more on the overthrow Click HERE:

http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Overthrow.pdf

One more correction to the many misconceptions … on January 17, 1893, the Hawai‘i constitutional monarchy was overthrown, not the Hawaiian race.

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Raising_of_American_flag_at_Iolani_Palace-1898

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Kaisera

Caesar (Kaisera) Kaluaiku Kahanupauokalani Kamakaehukai Keolaokalani Kapaʻakea “was born in Hāmākua, Maui, in the year 1817 (many say 1815)…”

“He was not generally considered of the highest ali‘i rank, but of the same grade as Namakeha and some others. When quite young, he married a chiefess of Hawaii, Keohokālole”.

“For many years Mr Kapa‘akea was a Privy Councilor and member of the House of Nobles, in both which bodies he was noted for his independent spirit, whenever his own rights and privileges or those of the people were assailed.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1866)

His father was High Chief Kamanawa II and mother was Kamokuiki. He was a great grandson of Kame‘eiamoku (one of the Four Kona Uncles (Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa) and royal twins (Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa) on the Coat of Arms of Hawaii).

Kapa‘akea’s Christian name was spelled several different ways, such as “Caesar” in the state archives, or “Kaisera” in the style of the Hawaiian language.

In 1835, he married the High Chiefess Analea (Ane, Annie) Keohokālole; she was of a higher rank than he. They were cousins and their union was considered sacred because of their close blood relationship.

Keohokalole was born at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 1816. She was daughter of the Chiefess Kamaeokalani and the High Chief ʻAikanaka.

Through her father she was descended from Kame‘eiamoku and Keaweaheulu (of the Four Kona Uncles) that supported Kamehameha I. Her first marriage was to John Adams Kuakini; they had no children. (Kravitz)

Kapa‘akea and Keohokālole had over 10 children although several died young.

Kapa‘akea was the patriarch of the Kalākaua dynasty. He was father of future King David Kalākaua, future Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Other children were James Kaliokalani, Anna Kaʻiulani, Kaiminaauao, Likelike and Leleiohoku. Each of his children were hānai or adopted by different noble families.

Kalākaua was given to the Chiefess Haʻaheo. Liliʻuokalani was given to Abner Paki and Laura Konia. Kaliokalani was given to his maternal grandfather Aikanaka.

Leleiohoku was given to the Princess Ruth Keelikolani. Kaʻiulani was given to the Princess Kekauonohi. Kaiminiaauao was given to Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama. Likelike was given to family in Kona. (Kravitz)

Kapa‘akea served in the House of Nobles from April 4, 1845 to his death and Privy Council from 1846. He served Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V. (Kravitz) He died November 13, 1866 and was buried in a tomb at Kawaiaha‘o Cemetery.

His remains, and that of his wife, Ane Keohokālole, were transferred to Mauna Ala on November 30, 1875. “The transfer was made under military escort, with torches, between the hours of eight and nine pm.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 1, 1875)

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Kapaakea,_photograph_by_Henry_L._Chase-WC
Kapaakea,_photograph_by_Henry_L._Chase-WC
Caesar Kapaakea and Analea Keohokālole, parents of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani
Caesar Kapaakea and Analea Keohokālole, parents of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani
Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea (1815 – November 13, 1866)
Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea (1815 – November 13, 1866)
Kapaakea_and_Kalakaua
Kapaakea_and_Kalakaua
A daguerreotype of a Caesar Kapaakea and his son David Kalakaua-WC
A daguerreotype of a Caesar Kapaakea and his son David Kalakaua-WC

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Early Stages to the Overthrow – Challenges with Kalākaua

Some suggest the overthrow of the Hawai‘i constitutional monarchy was neither unexpected nor sudden.

Dissatisfaction with the rule of Kalākaua (and, later, Lili‘uokalani) led to the ‘Bayonet Constitution,’ then, the overthrow. Mounting dissatisfaction with government policies and private acts of officials led to the formation of the Hawaiian League, a group of Honolulu businessmen.

Folks generally cite the efforts to form the Polynesian Confederacy, the opium license bribery case and the extravagance (and growing debt) as issues of concern about Kalākaua’s rule.

Polynesian Confederacy

“Kalākaua (one of the most theoretical of men) was filled with visionary schemes for the protection and development of the Polynesian race; (Walter Murray Gibson) fell in step with him … The king and minister at least conceived between them a scheme of island confederation.” (Stevenson)

“(Gibson) discerned but little difficulty in the way of organizing such a political union, over which Kalākaua would be the logical emperor, and the Premier of an almost boundless empire of Polynesian archipelagoes.” (Daggett; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 6, 1900)

“The first step once taken between the Hawaiian and Samoan groups, other Polynesian groups and, inclusively, Micronesian and Melanesian groups, might gradually be induced to enter into the new Polynesian confederation just as Lord Carnarvon gets colony after colony to adopt His Lordship’s British Federal Dominion policy.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1877)

John Bush, Hawaiʻi’s ambassador to Sāmoa, succeeded in negotiating Articles of Confederation, which the Hawaiian cabinet ratified in March 1887. Kalākaua sent the Kaimiloa to salute High Chief Malietoa Laupepa in Sāmoa. (However, a German warship there warned Kalākaua to stop meddling in Samoan affairs.) (Chappell)

Eventually, the confederacy attempts failed. It part, it is believed too many changes to existing systems were proposed, many of which were modeled after the Western way.

Later, the Berlin Act (signed June 14, 1889,) between the US, Germany and Britain, established three-power joint rule over Sāmoa. This ultimately led to the creation of American Sāmoa.

Opium License Bribery Case

Another issue that particularly incensed people was the opium franchise bribery case, in which the King was implicated. (Forbes)  An opium bill was passed providing for a license for four years, to be granted by the minister of the interior with the consent of the King. (Reports of Committee on Foreign Relations)

“Early in November, 1886, Junius Kaae, (who has access to the King,) informed a Chinese rice planter named Tong Kee, alias Aki, that he could have the opium license granted to him if he would pay the sum of $60,000 to the King’s private purse, but that he must be in haste because other parties were bidding for the privilege.” (Executive Documents US House of Representatives, 1895)

“With some difficulty Aki raised the money, and secretly paid it to Kaae and the King in three instalments between December 3d and December 8th, 1888. Soon afterwards Kaae called on Aki and informed him that one, Kwong Sam Kee, had offered the King $75,000 for the license, and would certainly get it, unless Aki paid $15,000 more.”

“Accordingly Aki borrowed the amount and gave it to the King personally on the 11th. Shortly after this another Chinese syndicate, headed by Chung Lung, paid the King $80,000 for the same object, but took the precaution to secure the license before handing over the money.” (Alexander)

In a later affidavit, Tong Kee (Aki) noted, “I asked the King to return me all of my money and drop the whole thing. He exclaimed that this could not be done that it was all understood and arranged about the division of the license and could not be changed.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 17, 1887)

Initially the king, through his minister of foreign affairs, disclaimed any involvement. However, “To cap the climax of the opium matter, the Attorney General proceeds to acknowledge that the money was paid over by the Chinese … (H)e informed the gentlemen interested in getting the money back that he would never accomplish his object so long as he allowed the newspaper to speak of the affair.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 17, 1887)

“The Attorney General then sees that there is no use in denying the receipt of the money but suggests that if a quiet tongue is kept in the matter the cash received for the bribe may be returned. … This is a pretty piece of morality for the Attorney General to put forth and shows the obliquity of vision of all who are connected with the government.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 17, 1887)

Extravagance/Debt

Although Kalākaua had been elected and serving as King since 1874, upon returning from a trip around the world (1881), it was determined that Hawaiʻi’s King should also be properly crowned (1883).

“ʻIolani Palace, the new building of that name, had been completed the previous year (1882), and a large pavilion had been erected immediately in front of it for the celebration of the coronation. This was exclusively for the accommodation of the royal family; but there was adjacent thereto a sort of amphitheatre, capable of holding ten thousand persons, intended for the occupation of the people.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“On Monday, 12th February, the imposing ceremony of the Coronation of their Majesties the King and Queen of the Hawaiian Islands took place at ʻIolani Palace. … Like a mechanical transformation scene to take place at an appointed minute, so did the sun burst forth as the clock struck twelve, and immediately after their Majesties had been crowned.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 17, 1883)

The building of ‘Iolani Palace, in and of itself was an enormous extravagance, and so far as its cost is concerned remains a mystery to this day. The contract was not put out to tender in the customary manner, but the work was given for private reasons to architects and builders whom the King wished to favor. There were no requisitions upon the Treasury, and bills were paid by the King without any Ministerial intervention. (Krout)

During the Aki Opium Bribery Case, noted above, it was learned that, “the King’s liabilities of one kind and another amounted to more than $250,000. He was finally induced to make an assignment for the benefit of his creditors … it was decided, in conformity with the Constitution, which adhered to the old mediaeval tradition, that the King could ‘do no wrong.’”

“This interpretation meant that Kalākaua ‘could not be sued or held to account in any court of the kingdom,’ but the revenue in the hands of the trustees was held liable to Aki’s claim.” (Krout)

“Official advices from Honolulu, just received here, shows that the financial condition of the Hawaiian Kingdom is such that there is not the slightest hope of the Government ever again being independent of money lenders. The consequence will be trouble which must come sooner or later, involving the interest of Americans, Englishmen and Germany.”

“It is understood that when that period is reached our Government will insist that only American authority shall be recognized in the Hawaiian Kingdom, in what form this control will be established has not been considered, but no foreign Government will be permitted, under plea of setting up a protectorate, to establish itself in that country.” (Sacramento Daily Union, June 29, 1887)

This led to the ‘Bayonet Constitution’ (signed July 6, 1887) that greatly curtailed the monarch’s power, making him a mere figurehead; it placed executive power in the hands of a cabinet whose members could no longer be dismissed by the monarch but only by the legislature; it provided for election of the House of Nobles, formerly appointed by the monarch. (hawaiibar-org)

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