“(I)n the earliest times all the people were alii … it was only after the lapse of several generations that a division was made into commoners and chiefs” (Malo)
Kamakau noted, in early Hawaiʻi “The parents were masters over their own family group … No man was made chief over another.” Essentially, the extended family was the socio, biological, economic and political unit.
Because each ʻohana (family) was served by a parental haku (master, overseer) and each family was self-sufficient and capable of satisfying its own needs, there was no need for a hierarchal structure.
Kamakau states that there were no chiefs in the earliest period of settlement but that they came “several hundred years afterward … when men became numerous.”
As the population increased and wants and needs increased in variety and complexity (and it became too difficult to satisfy them with finite resources,) the need for chiefly rule became apparent.
The actual number of chiefs was few, but their retainers attached to the courts (advisors, konohiki, priests, warriors, etc) were many.
In addition to the expanded demand to provide food for the courts, commoners were also obliged to make new lines of products for the chiefs – feather cloaks, capes, helmets, images and ornaments.
Once King Kamehameha I gained control of the major Hawaiian Islands, he reestablished the ancestral custom of the ʻaha aliʻi (council of chiefs,) first to provide advice and ensure the proper governance of the islands without reliance on warfare.
The council of chiefs supervised the division and management of land, the management of fisheries, the sandalwood trade and the annual collection of taxes.
Kamehameha also appointed governors for each island, in recognition of the relative autonomy of each island in relation to local affairs and as an accommodation to the federated nature of the governance of the unified Kingdom.
The council provided a constraint on the power of the mōʻī (head of state) and was an early indicator of the democratic direction in which governance of the nation was moving. (MacKenzie)
There were two strong forces, or parties, in the government; one the kahunas, who attended to the idol-worship, the other the kālaimoku, or king’s chief councilor (counselor, prime minister, high official; to perform such office. Lit., manage island, (Ulukau.)) These two were the ones who controlled the government, and led its head, the king, as they thought best. (Malo)
The word kālaimoku related to the civil polity, or government, of the land. The government was supposed to have one body (kino.) As the body of a man is one, provided with a head, with hands, feet and numerous smaller members, so the government has many parts, but one organization. (Malo)
The kālaimoku’s manner of procedure was as follows: He first made secret inquiries of the keepers of the genealogies – poe kuauhau – and informed himself as to the pedigree of all the chiefs.
Because the kālaimoku believed that the king was to be compared to a house. A house indeed stands of itself, but its pa or stockade, is its defense. So it was with the king; the chiefs below him and the common people throughout the whole country were his defense.
Aliʻi nui would carefully consider the advice of his council, and would be hesitant to go against it. Kālaimoku and kahuna kiʻi played different roles in their process of governing.
The kālaimoku advised on the material processes of government: political affairs, war, and taking care of makaʻāinana; the kahuna kiʻi focused on the spiritual and metaphysical and was the aliʻi nui contact t the gods. (Beamer)
If the head of the government declined to follow their advice, the government went to another, on account of the fault of its head, that is the king. The high priest – kahuna o nā kiʻi – controlled the king in matters of religion – haipule- (He was keeper of the king’s conscience.)
The kālaimoku, chief councilor or prime minister, guided him in regulating the affairs of administration, and in all that related to the common people. (Malo)
The principal duties of the kālaimoku’s office were comprised under two heads; to look after the king’s interests and to look after the people’s interests. The one who filled the office of kālaimoku made it his first business to counsel the king in the regulation of these two departments. (Malo)
One thing which the kālaimoku impressed upon the king was to protect the property of the chiefs as well as that of the common people; not to rob them, not to appropriate wantonly the crops of the common people. (Malo)
The kālaimoku’s manner of procedure was as follows: He first made secret inquiries of the keepers of the genealogies – poe kuauhau – and informed himself as to the pedigree of all the chiefs.
Because the kālaimoku believed that the king was to be compared to a house. A house indeed stands of itself, but its pa or stockade, is its defense. So it was with the king; the chiefs below him and the common people throughout the whole country were his defense.
There were two great reasons why a kālaimoku had superior ability as a counselor to others. In the first place, they were instructed in the traditional wisdom of former kālaimoku, and in the second place their whole lives were spent with kings.
When one king died, they lived with his successor until his death, and so on. Thus they became well acquainted with the methods adopted by different kings, also with those used by the kings of ancient times.
These kālaimoku were a class of people who did not care much for luxury and display, nor for distinction, wealth, or land. They had no desire for great rewards from the king. They were only intent on serving the king by their secret councils.
A notable Kālaimoku was Kalanimōkū was a trusted and loyal advisor to Kamehameha I, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III.)
He adopted the name William Pitt, because of his great admiration for the British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger. He was frequently addressed as Mr. Pitt or Billy Pitt. (Lots of information here from Malo.)
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