Territory | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 14, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1900s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1900s – Young Brothers formed, Moana Hotel opens, Dole organizes Hawaiian Pineapple Company and UH starts. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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August 21, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Statehood

“Hawai‘i is America in a microcosm – a melting pot of many racial and national origins, from which has been produced a common nationality, a common patriotism, a common faith in freedom and in the institutions of America.” (Senator Herbert
Lehman; GPO)

On June 27, 1959, Hawaiʻi registered voters voted on three propositions related to Statehood:

Shall the following propositions, as set forth in Public Law 86-3 entitled “An Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union” be adopted?

1. Shall Hawaii immediately be admitted into the Union as a State?
Yes – 132,773 (94.3%)
No – 7,971 (5.7%)

2. The boundaries of the State of Hawaii shall be as prescribed in the Act of Congress approved March 18, 1959, and all claims of this State to any areas of land or sea outside the boundaries so prescribed are hereby irrevocably relinquished to the United States.
Yes – 132,194 (94.5%)
No – 7,654 (5.5%)

3. All provisions of the Act of Congress approved March 18, 1959, reserving rights or powers to the United States, as well as those prescribing the terms or conditions of the grants of lands or other property therein made to the State of Hawaii are consented by said State and its people.
Yes – 132,281 (94.6%)
No – 7,582 (5.4%)

(There was a 93.6% voter turnout for the General election – as compared to generally less than 50% in recent times – total turnout for the 2016 primary election was only 34.8% (a new low.))

While Hawaiʻi was the 50th State to be admitted into the union on August 21, 1959, Statehood is celebrated annually on the third Friday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 admission of Hawaiʻi into the Union.

Contrary to comments by some, the Crown and Government lands were not ‘stolen’ from the people with Territorial status, Statehood or any other change in governance. Those lands have been consistently recognized as part of the public domain or government property, as decided by the Hawai‘i Supreme Court.

That court noted, “In 1840 (Kamehameha III) granted the first Constitution by which he declared and established the equality before the law of all his subjects, chiefs, and people alike.”

“By that Constitution, he voluntarily divested himself of some of his powers and attributes as an absolute Ruler, and conferred certain political rights upon his subjects, admitting them to a share with himself in legislation and government. This was the beginning of a government as contradistinguished from the person of the King …”

“… who was thenceforth to be regarded rather as the executive chief and political head of the nation than its absolute governor. Certain kinds of public property began to be recognized as Government property, and not as the King’s.”

“… and shall be regulated, leased, or sold, in accordance with the will of said Nobles and Representatives, for the good of the Hawaiian Government, and to promote the dignity of the Hawaiian Crown.”

The Court found, “while it was clearly the intention of Kamehameha III to protect the lands which he reserved to himself out of the domain which had been acquired by his family through the prowess and skill of his father, the conqueror, from the danger of being treated as public domain or Government property …”

“… it was also his intention to provide that those lands should descend to his heirs and successors, the future wearers of the crown which the conquerer had won; and we understand the act of 7th June, 1848, as having secured both those objects.” (Supreme Court Decision in the Matter of the Estate of Kamehameha IV, 1864)

Following the overthrow, these lands remained for public benefit when they were transferred through changing governments and governance to the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory and State.

This was affirmed by the US Court of Claims noting, “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)

Beneficiaries of these lands have also not changed – those lands remain part of the public trust for the benefit of Hawai‘i citizens. The government and governance of the Kingdom through Statehood has not been, nor are they now, based on race. People of many races have been and continue to be citizens.

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:
1. support of the public schools and other public educational institutions
2. betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians (per the Hawaiian Homes Act, 1920)
3. development of farm and home ownership on as widespread a basis as possible
4. making of public improvements
5. provision of lands for public use

So, as Statehood is celebrated in the Islands, the lands that were in the public domain over the changing levels and entities of government and governance continue to be held in public trust, for all citizens (just as in the times of the constitutional monarchy.)

“Today, one of the deepest needs of mankind is the need to feel a sense of kinship one with another. Truly all mankind belongs together; from the beginning all mankind has been called into being, nourished, watched over by the love of God.”

“So that the real Golden Rule is Aloha. This is the way of life we shall affirm.”

“Let us affirm ever what we really are – for Aloha is the spirit of God at work in you and in me and in the world, uniting what is separated, overcoming darkness and death, bringing new light and life to all who sit in the darkness of fear, guiding the feet of mankind into the way of peace.”

“Thus may our becoming a State mean to our nation and the world, and may it reaffirm that which was planted in us one hundred and thirty-nine years ago: ‘Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.’” (Reverend Abraham K Akaka; Given on: Friday, March 13, 1959)

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March 7, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Claims to the Crown Lands

Under King Kamehameha III, the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawai‘i was the separation of the rights of the King, the Chiefs, the Konohiki (land agents) and makaʻāinana (the native tenants.)

More than 240 of the highest ranking Chiefs and Konohiki in the Kingdom joined Kamehameha III in this task (generally referred to as the Great Māhele.) The first māhele, or division, of lands was signed on January 27, 1848; the last māhele was signed on March 7, 1848.

Each māhele was in effect a quitclaim agreement; in each māhele for lands for the King, the Chief or the Konohiki signed an agreement: “I hereby agree that this division is good. The lands above written are for the King. I have no more rights therein.”

The King retained all of his private lands as his individual property; one third of the remaining land was to be for the Hawaiian Government; one third for the Chiefs and Konohiki; and one third to be set aside for the tenants, the actual possessors and cultivators of the soil.

The high Chiefs and the lesser Konohiki were required to present their claims before the Land Commission to receive awards for the lands. Until an award for these lands was issued by the Land Commission, title to such lands remained with the government.

In the Māhele, of the approximate 10,000 awards, around 1,000,000-acres were reserved by King Kamehameha III as “Crown” lands, 1,500,000-acres were given by the King (as “Government” lands) to the ‘government and people’, approximately 1,500,000-acres were set aside for the Chiefs (as “Konohiki” lands) and less than 30,000-acres of land were awarded to the native tenants (Kuleana lands.)

Kamehameha III divided the lands he reserved for himself into two separate parts; the smaller portion he retained for his personal use (“Crown” lands); the larger portion he gave ‘to the Chiefs and people’ (“Government” lands.)

On June 7, 1848, Kamehameha III approved a Law, passed at the Council House, that listed respective ahupua‘a and ili that were “the private lands of His Majesty Kamehameha III … and said lands shall be regulated and disposed according to his royal will and pleasure subject to the rights of native tenants.”

Another long list of ahupua‘a and ili were noted as “the lands of the Hawaiian Government.” A shorter list of O‘ahu lands were “set apart for the use of the Fort in Honolulu, to be cultivated by soldiers and other tenants under the direction of the Governor of O‘ahu”. (An Act Relating to the Lands of His Majesty the King and the Government, 1848)

For a while, the ‘Crown’ lands were viewed and handled “to be the private lands of His Majesty Kamehameha III, to have and to hold to himself, his heirs and successors forever”. (An Act To Relieve The Royal Domain From Encumbrances, And To Render The Same Inalienable, 1865)

Kamehameha IV administered his land in much the same way as his uncle (as if it was his own private property.) In dispositions, Queen Emma joined him, waiving her right of dower in such lands.

Queen Emma was the first to make a claim to the Crown Lands as private property, with the death of Kamehameha IV.

She “claimed that all the property possessed by her late royal husband was his private property” and made claim of dower to one-half of the Crown Lands in the royal domain; the Attorney General opposed her claim, noting they constituted “a Royal Domain annexed to the Hawaiian Crown”.

Kamehameha V responded that he, as “hereditary successor to the throne, shall inherit the entire estate, both real and personal derived from his Majesty Kamehameha III, at his decease, and held by Kamehameha IV, the King lately deceased.”

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court, in deciding the Estate of Kamehameha IV noted, “In 1840 (Kamehameha III) granted the first Constitution by which he declared and established the equality before the law of all his subjects, chiefs, and people alike.”

The Court noted, “These lands are to be in the perpetual keeping of the Legislative Council (Nobles and Representatives) or in that of the superintendents of said lands, appointed by them from time to time, and shall be regulated, leased, or sold, in accordance with the will of said Nobles and Representatives, for the good of the Hawaiian Government, and to promote the dignity of the Hawaiian Crown.”

The Crown Land stayed with the government and dower was acknowledged with Queen Emma, however there was a “settlement of a permanent annuity upon Queen Emma in lieu of her claim of dower in the royal domain.” (Alexander)

This litigation led to legislation which affirmed the decision of the court; on January 3, 1865, Kamehameha V approved an Act of the Legislative Assembly that initially noted …

“the history of said lands shows that they were vested in the King for the purpose of maintaining the Royal State and Dignity; and it is therefore disadvantageous to the public interest that the said lands should be alienated, or the said Royal Domain diminished.”

That 1865 law noted the Crown Lands “shall be henceforth inalienable, and shall descend to the heirs and successors of the Hawaiian Crown forever”.

The Act also noted that, “during the two late reigns, the said Royal Domain has been greatly diminished, and is now charged with mortgages to secure considerable sums of money” – the Law converted the mortgages to bonds. (An Act To Relieve The Royal Domain From Encumbrances, And To Render The Same Inalienable, 1865)

On the death of Kamehameha V, his half-sister, Ruth Keʻelikōlani, inherited his private lands, but the Crown Lands were held by the commissioners for the benefit of his successors.

Later (September 13, 1880,) Claus Spreckels purchased from Ruth Keʻelikōlani all her interest or claim in and to the Crown Lands. Rather than taking the issue to court, a compromise and an act was carried through the Legislature of 1882, where Spreckels received the ahupua‘a of Wailuku with ili and quitclaimed any interest in other Crown Lands. (Alexander)

Queen Lili‘uokalani made a claim to Crown Lands as her personal property. Noting, “Her cause of action is predicated upon an alleged ‘vested equitable life interest’ to certain lands described in the petition, known as ‘crown lands,’ of which interest she was divested by the defendants.”

However, the US Court of Claims noted, “It may not be unworthy of remark that it is very unusual, even in cases of conquest, for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign and assume dominion over the country.”

The Court concluded, “The crown lands were the resourceful methods of income to sustain, in part at least, the dignity of the office to which they were inseparably attached. When the office ceased to exist they became as other lands of the Sovereignty and passed to the defendants as part and parcel of the public domain.”

“Since 1865, so far as the record before us discloses, the character of the crown lands has not been changed; they have passed to the succeeding monarch. The income, less expense of management, has been used to support the royal office and treated as belonging to the Crown. All other property of the King has uniformly passed to his heirs regardless of his royal successor.”

The Court further noted, “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)

Today, abstracting (researching title) government lands is fundamentally different from abstracting private lands. For private lands, owners have a deed that evidences ownership and a title company can trace the ‘chain of title’ at the Bureau of Conveyances by researching the transfers of the land from owner to owner via legal documents.

Instead of a deed or other legal document, the State owns the majority of former crown and government land through passage of laws. Public land title is passed by ‘operation of law.’

Today, there is no paper title for the majority of public lands, i.e., there is no deed showing the State owns it. There is no ‘chain of title’ for the majority of former Crown and Government Lands, since the lands were never conveyed out of the government.

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:
1. support of the public schools and other public educational institutions
2. betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians (per the Hawaiian Homes Act, 1920)
3. development of farm and home ownership on as widespread a basis as possible
4. making of public improvements
5. provision of lands for public use

As noted in the earlier discussion of Crown and Government Lands above, these 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.

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State-owned-Lands-DBEDT-GIS

June 14, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Territorial Governors

“(T)he executive power of the government of the Territory of Hawaii shall be vested in a governor, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, and shall hold office for four years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President.”

“He shall be not less than thirty-five years of age; shall be a citizen of the Territory of Hawaii; shall be commander in chief of the militia thereof; may grant pardons or reprieves for offenses against the laws of the said Territory and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States until the decision of the President is made known thereon.” (The Government of Hawaii, April 30, 1900)

The Territory of Hawaiʻi was organized on June 14, 1900, remaining a territory for 59 years. Twelve people served as territorial governor, each appointed by the President of the US.

1. Sanford Ballard Dole (1900-1903)
Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was born in Honolulu to Protestant Christian missionaries from Maine. His father was Daniel Dole principal at Punahou School and mother was Emily Hoyt Ballard (his mother died from complications within a few days of his birth.)

The monarchy ended on January 17, 1893; Dole was named president of the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi. The Provisional Government held a constitutional convention and on July 4, 1894, established the Republic of Hawaii. Dole would serve as the first and only president from 1894 to 1898.

President William McKinley appointed Dole to become the first territorial governor after US annexation of Hawaiʻi, and the Hawaiian Organic Act organized its government. Dole assumed the office on June 14, 1900 but resigned November 23, 1903 to accept an appointment by Theodore Roosevelt as judge for the US District Court

2. George Robert Carter (1903-1907)
George Robert Carter (December 28, 1866 – February 11, 1933) was born in Honolulu. His mother was Sybil Augusta Judd, daughter of Gerrit P Judd, and his father was businessman Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter.

Carter was educated at Fort Street School in Honolulu (now McKinley High School,) Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and Yale University. He married Helen Strong, daughter of Eastman Kodak president Henry A Strong April 19, 1892; they had four children.

In 1895 Carter returned to Hawaiʻi to become the cashier of C. Brewer & Co., where his father had been a senior partner from 1862 to 1874. From 1898 to 1902, he helped organize and manage the Hawaiian Trust Company, and was managing director of the Hawaiian Fertilizer Company. In addition, he served as a director for Bank of Hawaii, C. Brewer and Alexander & Baldwin

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of the Territory in 1902, and then Territorial Governor in 1903. In 1905, during Carter’s administration, the current system of county governments was created; Counties Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii and Kalawao took effect on January 1, 1906. Oahu County later became the City and County of Honolulu in 1909.

3. Walter Francis Frear (1907-1913)
Walter Francis Frear (October 29, 1863 – January 2, 1948) was born in Grass Valley, California. His father, Reverend Walter Frear, came to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as a missionary, and then lived in California. His mother was Frances Elmira Foster.

The family returned to Honolulu in 1870, where his father was pastor of the Fort Street Church until 1881. He graduated from Punahou School in 1881, Yale with a B.A. in 1885, and Yale law school in 1890. On August 1, 1893 he married Mary Emma Dillingham, the daughter of Benjamin Dillingham; they had two daughters.

Frear was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt on August 15, 1907. Frear Hall, a dormitory building built in the 1950s on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, was named after Governor Frear’s wife Mary Dillingham Frear, a member of the University’s Board of Regents from 1920–1943 (the structure was demolished in 2006 and replaced in 2008 by new dorm facility also called Frear Hall.

4. Lucius Eugene Pinkham (1913-1918)
Lucius Eugene Pinkham (September 19, 1850 – November 2, 1922) was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He attended public schools in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. Although he intended to attend Yale, a horse-riding accident prevented him from walking for several years and he never attended college.

Pinkham arrived in Hawaii in 1892 to build a coal handling plant for Oahu Railway and Land Company, and then went to California in 1894. From 1898 to 1903 he was manager of Pacific Hardware, another family business of Benjamin Dillingham.

On April 13, 1904, Pinkham was appointed President of the territorial Board of Health. While President of the Board of Health, he developed the idea of dredging the marshlands of Waikīkī via a two-mile long drainage canal. Pinkham was appointed governor by President Woodrow Wilson on November 29, 1913. The construction of what would become the Ala Wai Canal and the drainage of the Waikiki are considered to be his most enduring legacies.

5. Charles James McCarthy (1918-1921)
Charles James McCarthy (August 4, 1861 – November 26, 1929) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Charles McCarthy and Joana (McCarthy) McCarthy. McCarthy moved with his parents to San Francisco, California in 1866.

He was a member of the House of Nobles in 1890, supporter of Liliuokalani and ironically a captain in the pro-annexation Honolulu Rifles. He also was a territorial senator 1907-12 and treasurer 1912-14.

He was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Governor. He was the first governor to advocate statehood for Hawaiʻi.

He was later given a job as Washington representative of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and later general manager of Hawaiian Dredging Co during which he worked on the Waikiki Reclamation project which resulted in the construction of the Ala Wai Canal.

6. Wallace Rider Farrington (1921-1929)
Wallace Rider Farrington (May 3, 1871 – October 6, 1933) was born in Orono, Penobscot County, Maine. An avid traveler, he came to the Islands and was persuaded to stay to become the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser; he left the Advertiser and became editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Interested in local politics, he was elected Mayor of Honolulu.

President Warren Harding appointed Farrington as Governor. Wallace Rider Farrington High School in Kalihi is named for him; they adopted ‘The Governors’ as its nickname and mascot.

7. Lawrence McCully Judd (1929-1934)
Lawrence McCully Judd (March 20, 1887 – October 4, 1968) was born in Honolulu, grandson of Gerrit P Judd (an early American Missionary and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III.)

Herbert Hoover appointed Judd. Judd was devoted to the Hansen’s Disease-afflicted residents of Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai and as Governor; he overhauled the system of governance there. He later became Kalaupapa’s resident superintendent.

A source of controversy during his tenure, Judd commuted the sentence of Grace Hubbard Fortescue, convicted in the territorial courts of manslaughter in the death of a local man, Joseph Kahahawai in the ‘Massie Affair.’

8. Joseph Boyd Poindexter (1934-1942)
Joseph Boyd Poindexter (April 14, 1869 – December 3, 1951) was born in Canyon City, Oregon to Thomas W and Margaret Pipkin Poindexter.

He was admitted to the Montana Bar in 1892, and served as County Attorney of Beaverhead County, Montana from 1897 to 1903. He later served as a district judge in Montana from 1909 to 1915, and as Attorney General of Montana from 1915 to 1917.

President Woodrow Wilson appointed Poindexter as Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii; President Franklin D Roosevelt appointed Poindexter governor of Hawaii.

In the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Poindexter placed the territory under martial law and allowed the US military to form a military government. The military government would continue until 1943.

9. Ingram Macklin Stainback (1942-1951)
Ingram Macklin Stainback (May 12, 1883 – April 12, 1961) was born in Somerville, Tennessee, he received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.

He came to Hawaii shortly after graduation and was appointed by Governor Pinkham as Territorial Attorney General. He resigned in 1917 to join the Army and rose to the rank of major. When WWI ended he returned to private practice in Hawaii.

He was appointed to the office by President Franklin D Roosevelt. Stainback was essentially powerless for the first two years of his term since martial law was in effect.

On September 26, 1951, he was appointed by President Harry S Truman as an associate judge to the Hawaii Supreme Court. Stainback argued for Commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico instead of statehood, arguing that Hawaii would benefit from the federal tax exemption.

10. Oren Ethelbirt Long (1951-1953)
Oren Ethelbirt Long (March 4, 1889 – May 6, 1965) was born in Altoona, Kansas and attended Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tennessee, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University in New York City.

He first came to Hawaii in 1917 as a social worker in Hilo. He then held various educational positions in the public school system, eventually serving as a superintendent from 1933 to 1946.

He was appointed Governor of the Territory of Hawaii by President Harry Truman. Long later served in the Hawaii Territorial Senate from 1956-1959. On July 28, 1959 he was elected to one of the two Senate seats from the newly formed State of Hawaii, and took office on August 21, 1959. The other Senator elected was Hiram Fong.

11. Samuel Wilder King (1953-1957)
Samuel Wilder King (December 17, 1886 – March 24, 1959) was born in Honolulu to father James A King, a ship’s master for Samuel Gardner Wilder, and later politician in the Republic of Hawaii. His mother was Charlotte Holmes Davis.

A devout Roman Catholic, King attended Saint Louis School. Upon graduating, King went on to study at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He entered the US Navy as a commissioned officer where he served from 1910 to 1924.

King served in the United States House of Representatives as a delegate from the Territory of Hawaii. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed King to the governorship, the first of native Hawaiian descent to rise to the highest office in the territory.

12. William Francis Quinn (1957-1959)
William Francis Quinn (July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006) was born in Rochester, New York. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri during his youth, where he attended prep school at St. Louis University High School and college at St. Louis University, graduating in 1940.

Quinn entered Harvard Law School, but only finished after his stint in the military. He graduated cum laude in 1947. He served in Hawaii in naval intelligence during World War II. Upon his discharge from service, he settled permanently in Honolulu.

Originally appointed to the office by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1959, he defeated challenger John A Burns to win the new state’s first gubernatorial election.

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