Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance | Page 123

November 1, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1790s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1790s – including John Young and Isaac Davis joining Kamehameha, Vancouver visits, Battles of Kepaniwai and Nu‘uanu, etc. 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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October 29, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bingham’s Birthday

A week and almost 200 years ago … October 23, 1819 … the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (the ABCFM) set sail for the Sandwich Islands. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

There were seven couples aboard; their leader was Hiram Bingham – Sybil, his wife of 2-weeks, joined him. They are my great-great-great grandparents.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to these pioneers said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – what is generally referred to as the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM.

227 years ago (October 30, 1789,) Hiram Bingham, the fifth of the seven sons (from a family of 13-children) was born at Bennington, Vermont – he came from a family of preachers (he descended from Deacon Thomas Bingham who had come to the American colonies in 1650 and settled in Connecticut, his father was Deacon Calvin Bingham and his mother was named Lydia.)

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands forty years prior to the arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiian was a spoken language, not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

After western contact, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

Hiram and others took on the task of developing a Hawaiian alphabet; on July 14, 1826, Hiram Bingham and Levi Chamberlain signed the “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language” – and the Hawaiian alphabet and formulation of the written Hawaiian Language was adopted … it is still in use today.

Hiram and the others were preachers and teachers – in a short time, the missionaries learned the language and these early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.

The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing. By 1832, the literacy rate of Hawaiians of about 78 percent had surpassed that of Americans on the continent. The literacy rate of the adult Hawaiian population skyrocketed from near zero in 1820 to an estimated of 91 percent by 1834.

As teaching expanded, the focus was educating the head, heart and hand. In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head,) the schools provided religious and moral guidance (Heart,) and manual and vocational training (Hand.)

Soon after the first anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneer Company, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku visited the mission and gave them supplies; this visit became important because during it Kaʻahumanu made her first request for prayer and showed her first interest in the teachings of the missionaries.

From that point on, Kaʻahumanu came into more constant contact with the mission. At a meeting of the chiefs and school teachers, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku declared their determination to “adhere to the instructions of the missionaries, to attend to learning, observe the Sabbath, Worship God, and obey his law, and have all their people instructed.” Ka‘ahumanu was baptized on December 5, 1825.

Bingham found a friend in Kaʻahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha and Queen regent during Liholiho’s and the early years of Kauikeaouli’s rule. She and other ali‘i worked collaboratively with the missionaries and visited often. Across the street, in the wood frame house at Missions Houses, you can correctly say, ‘Ka‘ahumanu slept here.’

A little side story on Kaʻahumanu … shortly after arriving in the Islands, with a piece of driftwood, Hiram managed to make a rocking chair for Sybil – in describing it she said, “A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is everything.”

On Sundays, the rocker was taken to the old thatched Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for Sybil, the pastor’s wife. Sybil’s wish was that when the last summons came, she might be found in that chair … and her wish was granted when she died in her rocking chair on February 27, 1848 in New Haven Connecticut.

The rocker had its admirers, including Kaʻahumanu. As Bingham notes, “On seeing and trying Mrs B’s chair, the first, probably, ever made (in the) islands, Ka‘ahumanu … wished me to make her one in every respect like it, for she said it exactly fit her.”

It wasn’t until 10-years later that he built Kaʻahumanu her rocker, one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawaiʻi. Both are at Mission Houses and are occasionally put on display.

Kalanimōku served as chief councilor and prime minister to Kamehameha I, Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. An 1826 letter written by Kalanimōku to Hiram Bingham (written at a time when missionaries were being criticized) states, “Greetings Mr Bingham. Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers.”

“I am telling you that I have not seen your wrong doing. If I had seen you to be wrong, I would tell you all. No, you must all be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it. And, give us the word of God and we will heed it … for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land. Foreigners of America and Britain. But don’t be angry, for we are to blame for you being faulted. And it is not you foreigners, (it’s) the other foreigners.”

“Here’s my message according to the words of Jehovah, I have given my heart to God and my body and my spirit. I have devoted myself to the church and Jesus Christ.”

“Have a look at this letter of mine, Mr Bingham and company. And if you see it and wish to send my message on to America to (your President,) that is up to you. Greetings to the chief of America. Regards to you all, Kalanimōku.”

Due to Sybil’s illness, after 21-years in the Islands, the Binghams left in 1840; Hiram never saw the completed church that he designed, Kawaiahaʻo. However, in this sanctuary, you will often sing a verse written by Hiram Bingham, what many call the Hawaiian Doxology.

Hoʻonani i ka Makua mau
Let us give praise to the eternal Father

Ke Keiki me ke ka ʻUhane nō
To the Son and to the Holy Ghost

Ke Akua mau, hoʻomaikaʻi pū
To God everlasting, let there ring praise

Ko kēia ao ko kēlā ao
Both in this world as well as the kingdom beyond

With collaboration with the Aliʻi, Hiram and the other missionaries
• Introduced Christianity to the Islands
• Created the written Hawaiian language and brought about widespread literacy
• Helped promulgate a constitutional government
• Made Western medicine available
• Introduced a distinctive musical tradition

Hiram died on November 11, 1869 at New Haven Connecticut at the age of 81.

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October 28, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Late-1880s

The Statue of Liberty was made in France and was proposed by Edouard de Laboulaye, sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and funded by the French people.

It was shipped in 1885 to New York and placed onto Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It wasn’t dedicated by Grover Cleveland until on October 28, 1886.

That year, John Pemberton begins selling his formula (a mixture of cocaine and caffeine) at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.

It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains. Coca Cola no longer contains Cocaine but that is how it got its name.

Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua: Goyaałé [kòjàːɬɛ́] “the one who yawns” (June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent leader from the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe.

From 1850 to 1886 Geronimo joined with members of three other Chiricahua Apache bands – the Chihenne, the Chokonen and the Nednhi – to carry out numerous raids as well as resistance to US and Mexican military campaigns in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

Geronimo’s raids and related combat actions were a part of the prolonged period of the Apache-American conflict that started with American settlement in Apache lands following the end of the war with Mexico in 1848.

In 1886, Geronimo, described by one follower as ‘the most intelligent and resourceful … most vigorous and farsighted’ of the Apache leaders, surrendered to General Nelson A Miles in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, after more than a decade of guerilla warfare against American and Mexican settlers in the Southwest.

The terms of surrender require Geronimo and his tribe to settle in Florida, where the Army hopes he can be contained. (In 1894, Geronimo and others were relocated at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.)

The National Geographic Society, founded on January 27, 1888 in Washington DC, has gone on to become the world’s largest scientific and geographical distribution organization.

Its original premise was ‘for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.’ In the field, National Geographic has supported exploration, education and conservation and a number of geological, natural and literary sources since 1888.

In 1888, George Eastman introduced the Kodak No 1, a simple and inexpensive Box Camera that brings photography to all. Because of their simplicity, ease of use and cost, the cameras became an enormous success.

That year, Scottish Inventor John Boyd Dunlop patents the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre. Also that year, on August 31, 1888, the first victim of the murderer called ‘Jack the Ripper’ was discovered in London.

The Eiffel Tower, or the Tour Eiffel, was opened on March 31, 1889, and was the work of a Gustave Eiffel, who was a bridge engineer.

It was made for the centenary of the French Revolution and was chosen over one hundred other plans that were given. Eiffel’s engineering skills would preface later architectural designs.

The Tower stands at twice the height of both the St Peter’s Basilica and the Great Pyramid of Giza. Its metallic construction was completed within months.

On June 21, 1887, Britain celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, which marked the 50th year of her reign. Queen Kapiʻolani Princess Lili‘uokalani and her husband General Dominis, C.P. Iaukea, Governor of Oahu, Colonel J.H. Boyd, Mr. Sevellon Brown, Captain D.M. Taylor, and Lieutenant C.R.P. Rodgers, and four servants attended the Jubilee.

Queen Kapiʻolani brought along Liliʻuokalani to serve as her interpreter. Even though Kapiʻolani was raised to understand English, she would speak only Hawaiian. Newspapers noted that Liliʻuokalani was fluent in English while Kapiʻolani spoke ‘clumsily.’ (UH Manoa Library)

Queen Kapiʻolani had left the Islands under stress. Just before she left, Liliʻuokalani and Kalākaua’s sister, Miriam Likelike, wife of Archibald Cleghorn and mother of Princess Kaʻiulani, died on February 2, 1887. Her return was under stress, and expedited, as well.

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee was held on June 20 and 21, 1887. On June 30, 1887, the Honolulu Rifles demanded that King Kalākaua dismiss his cabinet and form a new one.

Within days, with firearms in hand, the Hawaiian League presented King Kalākaua with a new constitution. Kalākaua signed the constitution under threat of use of force. (hawaiibar-org) As a result, the new constitution earned the nickname, The Bayonet Constitution.

“Queen Kapiʻolani and party reached (New York) from London (on July 11.) The queen expressed a wish to return home as soon as possible consistent with the health of the suite. It was decided not to stop more than a day or two at the longest in New York.”

“The queen … had been inclined to tears when she first heard the news of the Hawaiian revolution”. (Bismarck Weekly Tribune, July 15, 1887) Queen Kapiʻolani returned to Hawai‘i on July 26, 1887.

On July 30, 1889, Robert William Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution had left King Kalākaua a mere ﬁgurehead.

By the evening, Wilcox became a prisoner and charged with high treason by the government. He was tried for treason, but acquitted by the jury.

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Statue of Liberty, ‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ in New York Harbor, on October 28, 1886

1876: The hand and torch of the Statue of Liberty on display at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, ten years before the rest of the statue was completed. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Statue of Liberty towers over Paris rooftops in 1884, outside Bartholdi’s workshop

Statue of Liberty -Hand and torch being built in a Paris studio around 1876

Geronimo_17apr1886

Apache_chief_Geronimo_(right)_and_his_warriors_in_1886

Queen_Victoria’s_Golden_Jubilee_Service,_Westminster_Abbey-June_21,_1887

Queen_Victoria Jubilee-Kapiolani_and_Liliuokalani_at_the_Stewart_Estate,_England,_1887

Hawaiian_League_(PP-36-3-005)

honolulu_rifles_in_full_regalia_pp-52-1-019

Lajolla-1906 (the same in late-1880s)

Eiffel’s chief engineer came up with the original concept in 1884

Eiffel-tower-in-July-1888

Brooklyn_Bridge-under_construction

Brooklyn_Bridge-1890s

October 25, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Timeline Tuesday … 1000 – 1780s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us from the approximately 1000 AD (when some estimate the first settlement of the Islands took place) to the rise of Kamehameha, Contact and death of Captain Cook. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

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October 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Decolonization Act

The United Nations was formed, in part, to win a war (WWII.)

Representatives of 26 countries fighting the German, Italian and Japanese Axis, decided to affirm their support by signing the Declaration of the United Nations.

This document pledged the signatory governments to the maximum war effort and bound them against making a separate peace. (UN)

In part, the Declaration states, “Being convinced that complete victory over their enemies is essential to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands, and that they are now engaged in a common struggle against savage and brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world.”

“Each Government pledges itself to employ its full resources, military and economic, against those members of the Tripartite Pact (Germany, Italy and Japan) and its adherents with which such government is at war.” (Declaration by UN)

But the UN does not intervene in the members’ domestic issues. “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state …”

“… or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.” (UN Charter, Chapter 1, Article 2)

The Charter of the United Nations was signed on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization.

The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States and by a majority of other signatories. (UN)

Some have cited the United Nations and its ‘Non-Self-Governing Territory’ listing and process as the means to Hawaiian self-determination.

One even suggested that “In 1954 the UN tendered independence to Hawai‘i under the Decolonization Act”. But searching the UN documents did not verify this; and repeated requests for documentation from the one who made the statement were denied (so that scenario appears not likely.)

“Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount …”

“… and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories”.

Members commit “to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject to such limitation as security and constitutional considerations may require, statistical and other information of a technical nature relating to economic, social and educational conditions in the territories for which they are respectively responsible other than those territories to which Chapters XII and XIII apply.”

In 1946, the eight Administering Powers (Australia, Belgium. Denmark, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States) submitted a total of 74 countries to be listed as Non-Self-Governing Territories under Chapter XI of the Charter.

These territories under Chapter XI were administered by the Allied powers before the war, and do not include the countries ruled by the Axis powers (German, Italy and Japan) before the war. Those territories fell under what was called a “Trusteeship,” and listed under Articles XII and XIII of the Charter.

Listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the United States were Hawai‘i, Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

According to UN General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV), a non-self-governing territory “can be said to have reached a full measure of self-government by: (a) Emergence as a sovereign independent State; (b) Free association with an independent State; or (c) Integration with an independent State.”

By the end of World War II, the political status of many countries remained unresolved. An important factor in the creation of the United Nations in 1945 was to determine what was going to happen to the territories which had been acquired by the larger powers – and some smaller powers. This was the beginning of the era of decolonization. (Corbin)

Over time, some UN member countries notified the UN of changes in status of Non-Self-Governing territories under their control. Sometimes, these territories obtained independent status; sometimes, they achieved integration with another country. (Corbin)

UN records note that Martinique and Guadeloupe had ‘Change of Status’ in 1947 and were removed from the UN listing. (UN) First sighted by Columbus on his initial expedition in 1493, Martinique played host to its first European “tourists” in 1502 when Columbus landed there during his fourth voyage.

Dubbed Martinique by Columbus, the island was inhabited by Carib Indians who had driven away the Arawaks who, like themselves, had come to the island from South America.

Martinique and Guadeloupe were claimed by France in 1635 and officially annexed in 1674. In 1946, Martinique became a Department of France and in 1974 a Region of France, its current status. (Martinique, Minahan)

“In the period from 1953-1969, the General Assembly, having examined the information transmitted in accordance with resolution 222 (III), approved the cessation of information on six territories.”

“In the order of the decisions taken, they were, under resolution 748 (VIII) of 27 November 1953, Puerto Rico, which became a Commonwealth associated with the United States …”

“… under resolution 849 (IX) of 22 November 1954, Greenland, which was integrated with Denmark; under resolution 945 (X) of 15 December 1955, Netherlands Antilles (originally listed as Curacao) and Surinam, which became self-governing parts of the Netherlands …”

“… and, under resolution 1469 (XIV) of 12 December 1959, Alaska and Hawai‘i, which were integrated with the United States. (UN)

With respect to Hawai‘i, “The General Assembly … Having received from the Government of the United States of America communications dated 2 June 1959 and 17 September 1959 informing the Secretary-General that Alaska and Hawai‘i, respectively …”

“… have, as a result of their admission into the United States as the forty-ninth and fiftieth States, attained a full measure of self-government and that, as a consequence of this change in their constitutional status, the United States Government would cease to transmit information under Article 73 (e) of the Charter in respect of Alaska and Hawaii”.

“Bearing in mind the competence of the General Assembly to decide whether a Non-Self-Governing Territory has or has not attained a full measure of self-government as referred to in Chapter XI of the Charter …”

“… Considers that, owing to the circumstances mentioned above, the declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories and the provisions established under it in Chapter XI of the Charter can no longer be applied to Alaska and Hawaii…”

“… Considers it appropriate that the transmission of information in respect of Alaska and Hawaii under Article 73 (e) of the Charter should cease.” (UN Resolution 1469 (XIV))

The UN General Assembly concluded that since Hawai‘i joined the United States as a state in 1959 it was no longer designed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory.

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Washington,_D.C._Representatives_of_26_United_Nations_at_Flag_day_ceremonies_in_the_White_House_to_reaffirm_their_pact.