Hawaiian Constitution | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 17, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Saint Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of the island.

Legend credits St. Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons (the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit) in one God. (Shamrocks are a central symbol for St Patrick’s Day.) St Patrick is also credited with ridding Ireland of snakes, chasing them into the sea.

St. Patrick features in many stories in the Irish oral tradition and there are many customs connected with his feast day. March 17, popularly known as St. Patrick’s Day, is believed to be his death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day.

St. Patrick has never been formally canonized by a Pope; nevertheless, various Christian churches declare that he is a Saint in Heaven (he is included in the List of Saints.)

So, today, we celebrate the death of St Patrick; we also celebrate the “birth” of Kauikeaouli.

On the night of his birth, the chiefs gathered about the mother. Early in the morning the child was born but as it appeared to be stillborn.

Then came Kaikioʻewa from some miles away, close to Kuamoʻo, and brought with him his prophet (Kamaloʻihi or Kapihe) who said, “The child will not die, he will live.”

The child was well cleaned and laid upon a consecrated place and the seer (kaula) took a fan (peʻahi), fanned the child, prayed, and sprinkled him with water, at the same time reciting a prayer.

The child began to move, then to make sounds and at last he came to life. The seer gave the boy the name of “The red trail” (Keaweaweʻula) signifying the roadway by which the god descends from the heavens. The name Kauikeaouli means “placed in the dark clouds.”

Kauikeaouli was the second son of Keōpūolani by Kamehameha, and she called him Kīwalaʻo after her own father. She was the daughter of Kiwalaʻo and Kekuʻiapoiwa Liliha, both children of Kalola and hence Keōpūolani was a niʻaupiʻo and a naha chiefess, and the niʻaupiʻo rank descended to her children and could not be lost by them. (Kamakau)

Kauikeaouli was only nine years old when his older brother Liholiho sailed to England; Liholiho died on that trip, leaving Kauikeaouli successor to the rule over Hawaiʻi. As he was then too young to assume command, affairs were administered by his guardians, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku, and the other chiefs under them.

We more commonly reference Kauikeaouli as Kamehameha III. He was the longest reigning Hawaiian monarch, serving 29-years, from 1825 to 1854.

There is scarcely in history, ancient or modem, any King to whom so many public reforms and benefits can be ascribed, as the achievements of his reign. Yet what King has had to contend with so many difficulties as King Kamehameha III? (The Polynesian, 1855)

“That the existence of the King, chiefs and the natives, can only be preserved by having a government efficient for the administration of enlightened justice, both to natives and the subjects of foreign powers residing in the islands, and that chiefly through missionary efforts the natives have made such progress in education and knowledge, as to justify the belief that by further training, they may be rendered capable of conducting efficiently the affairs of government; but that they are not at present so far advanced.” (Kamehameha IV, in Obituary to his hānai father)

In private life, Kamehameha III was mild, kind, affable, generous and forgiving. He was never more happy than when free from the cares and trappings of state. He could enjoy himself sociably with his friends, who were much attached to him. (The Polynesian, 1855)

Having associated much, while a boy, with foreigners, he continued to the last to be fond of their company. Without his personal influence, the law to allow them to hold lands in fee simple could never have been enacted. (The Polynesian, 1855)

It is hardly possible to conceive any King more generally beloved than was Kamehameha III; more universally obeyed, or more completely sovereign in the essential respect of independent sovereignty, that of governing his subjects free from any influence or control coming from beyond the limits of his own jurisdiction. (The Polynesian, 1855)

Under his leadership, Hawaiʻi changed from an isolated island kingdom to a recognized member of the modem world. Many of the things he did as king still influence life in Hawaiʻi today. (Kamehameha Schools Press)

The following are only some of the many accomplishments of Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli:)

On June 6, 1825, Kauikeaouli was proclaimed king of Hawaiʻi. To the people he said, “Where are you, chiefs, guardians, commoners? I greet you. Hear what I say! My kingdom I give to God. The righteous chief shall be my chief, the children of the commoners who do you right shall be my people, my kingdom shall be one of letters.” (Kamakau – Kamehameha Schools Press)
June 7, 1839, he signed the Declaration of Rights (called Hawai‘i’s Magna Charta) that, in part, noted, “God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men and all chiefs, and all people of all lands.”
June 17, 1839 he issued the Edict of Toleration permitting religious freedom for Catholics in the same way as it had been granted to the Protestants.
June 28, 1839 he founded Chief’s Children’s School (The Royal School;) the main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi’s Kingdom. (He selected missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.)
October 8, 1840 (the King was about 27-years-old) he enacted the Constitution of 1840 that, in part, changed the government from one of an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. It provided for a separation of powers between three branches of government, with executive power in the hands of the king, the kuhina nui (similar to a prime minister) and four governors; a bicameral legislative body consisting of a house of nobles and a house of representatives, with the house of representatives elected by the people; and a judiciary system, including a supreme court.
April 27, 1846 he declared that “the forests and timber growing therein shall be considered government property, and under the special care of the Minister of the Interior …;” effectively starting the process of protecting our mauka watersheds.
January 27, 1848 through March 7, 1848 he participated in what we refer to as the “Great Māhele” that was a reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi and allowed private ownership.
June 14, 1852 he enacted the Constitution of 1852 that expanded on the Declaration of Rights, granted universal (adult male) voting rights for the first time and changed the House of Nobles from a hereditary body to one where members served by appointment by the King. It also institutionalized the three branches of government and defined powers along the lines of the American Constitution.
Toward the end of Kauikeaouli’s reign there were 423-schools in Hawaiʻi with an enrollment of over twelve-thousand-students. Most of the schools were elementary schools using Hawaiian as the language of instruction.

Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) died December 15, 1854 (at the age of 41.)

Kauikeaouli’s exact birth date is not known; however, the generally accepted date is August 11, 1813. Never-the-less, Kauikeaouli was apparently an admirer of Saint Patrick and chose to celebrate his birthday on March 17. Happy Birthday and Cheers to Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III.

Kamehameha_III,_retouched_photo_by_J._J._Williams_(PP-97-7-011)-ca_1850

Keōpūolani-(1778–1823)mother Kamehameha II, Kamehameha III-1790

Kamehameha_Dynasty_Tomb_-_Royal_Mausoleum,_Honolulu,_HI

December 1, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William L Lee

William Little Lee did not plan to go to Hawaiʻi, let alone spend his life there. (Dunn)

Lee had received the best legal education available for an American of his time. He had been a law student at Harvard under US Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story and the renowned law teacher Samuel Greenleaf. After a year’s practice in Troy, New York, his recurring illness caused him to leave. (Silverman)

In February 1846, he sailed for the Oregon Territory with his friend and fellow adventurer, Charles Reed Bishop. After a long and stormy voyage, their ship (the Henry,) after about eight months at sea, arrived in Honolulu harbor October 12, 1846, needing extensive repairs. (Dunn)

While waiting there, Lee was consulted by some American residents on a legal question. He caught the attention of officials in the Hawaiian kingdom and was recruited by Attorney General John Ricord and Dr. Gerrit Judd, the Minister of Finance for Kamehameha III. Lee, then 26 years old, was only the second trained attorney in the Islands (after Ricord). (Dunn)

After some persuasion, he consented to stay, provided his friend could also be provided with employment. This was done, and Lee and Bishop made their home in Honolulu. (Bishop later married a Princess, Bernice Pauahi, founded Bishop & Company (what is now known as First Hawaiian Bank) and became a well-known financier and philanthropist.)

On December 1, 1846, Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa appointed Lee a judge in the newly organized court system. The appointment of Lee marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the Hawaiian judiciary. His character and attainments were such that under his leadership the courts won and retained public confidence. (Kuykendall)

The greater part of the Statute Laws of His Majesty, Kamehameha III was drafted by Attorney General Ricord before he resigned from the government; it was completed by Judge Lee. (Kuykendall)

The Act of 1847 expressly provided that the judges should be entirely independent of the executive department, and that the
King in his executive capacity should not control the decisions of the judges.

Following this, Lee presided over the Superior Court of Law and Equity (this court was later elevated to become the Supreme Court.) Lee served as Chief Justice (the Islands’ first CJ,) Lorrin Andrews and John ʻĪʻi as associate justices. The three justices heard all cases of original or appellate jurisdiction above the district court level. Lee was appointed to the Privy Council.

He strenuously urged upon the king and chiefs the policy of giving up to the common people a third of their land, and when a law to that effect was passed, he was appointed president of the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles (the Land Commission) to carry out its provisions, but he declined to accept any compensation for his services. (Ellis)

As much as anyone, Lee was responsible for carrying into effect the system of private property ownership. All of his deepest beliefs came together in his support of land ownership by commoners. He felt that “merely to preserve” their rights “would be no gain.” He wanted to go forward to “define their rights—to separate them from those of their chiefs.”

He sought “to give them what they have as their own, to inspire them with more self respect, more independence of character, and to lead them if possible to work, and labor, and cultivate, and improve their land.” (Silverman)

In 1851, he was elected to the Legislature and became Speaker of the House of Representatives. Among his labors were the framing of the revised constitution of the kingdom, and the task of drafting criminal and civil codes for the kingdom. (Ellis)

Lee brought major areas of substantive Western law into the Hawaiian legal system by drafting legislation which was frequently passed without alteration.

He wrote the Masters and Servants Act (1850) which governed the terms of contract labor of thousands of Hawaiian and immigrant plantation workers. He drafted the Marriage and Divorce law (1853) which liberalized divorce grounds to include several causes, instead of adultery only. He undoubtedly drafted basic business legislation, such as the bankruptcy law (1848.) (Silverman)

As Chief Justice, first of the Superior Court (1847-52) and then the Supreme Court (1852-57,) Lee administered the court system. He created the position of clerks in the Supreme and Circuit courts and placed them under centralized control.

By the time of the 1852 Constitution, aliʻi authority combined with Western precedents to create a Hawaiian judicial system that was Western in philosophy, structure and procedure.

Soon after the 1852 Constitution went into effect, Chief Justice Lee moved into the newly constructed coral block courthouse located near the harbor. This courthouse was the first structure in the islands built expressly for court purposes. It was built on the site of Halekauwila, a large Hawaiian house belonging to Kamehameha III, where earlier court sessions had been held. (Silverman)

Judge Lee’s health, always delicate, gave way as a result of undue exposure in attendance upon sick natives during an epidemic of smallpox in 1853.

This brought on a return of his early malady, and in 1855, in order to obtain medical advice, he accepted an appointment as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to negotiate a treaty with the US by which sugar from the islands was to be admitted free of duty, in return for the admission to the islands of lumber, fish and some other productions of the Pacific states. (Ellis)

He went to the continent; however, his health did not improve and he returned to the Islands, where he died (May 28, 1857; he is buried as Union Cemetery, Fort Edward, Washington County, New York.)

July 5, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bayonet Constitution

“A conspiracy against the peace of the Hawaiian Kingdom had been taking shape since early spring.” (Liliʻuokalani)

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)

“Kalākaua valued the commercial and industrial prosperity of his kingdom highly. … He freely gave his personal efforts to the securing of a reciprocity treaty with the United States, and sought the co-operation of that great and powerful nation, because he was persuaded it would enrich, or benefit, not one class, but, in a greater or less degree, all his subjects.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The Hawaiian League (aka Committee of Thirteen, Committee of Public Safety and Annexation Club) were unhappy with the rule of Kalākaua and used threats to force the king to adopt a new constitution.

With firearms in hand, in 1887 members of the Hawaiian League presented King Kalākaua with a new constitution. Kalākaua signed the constitution under threat of use of force. (hawaiibar-org)

The opposition used the threat of violence to force the Kalākaua to accept a new constitution that stripped the monarchy of executive powers and replaced the cabinet with members of the businessmen’s party. (archives-gov)

The Hawaiian League came into control of the Honolulu Rifles (made of about 200 armed men.) In June 1887, the Hawaiian League used the Rifles to force King Kalākaua to enact a new Constitution. (Kukendall)

As a result, the new constitution earned the nickname, The Bayonet Constitution.

On July 1, Kalākaua asked his entire cabinet to resign.

The Constitution of 1887 was a revision of the constitution of 1864, just as the latter was a revision of the constitution of 1852. In the revision, the main objects sought were to take from the king the greater part of the power exercised by him under the constitution of 1864 and to make him in effect a ceremonial figure somewhat like the sovereign of Great Britain. (ksbe-edu)

The Bayonet Constitution 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)

As to voting rights, it extended the vote to non-citizen, foreign residents of European and American background (Asians were excluded), thereby ending Native Hawaiian majority rule in the legislature. And it required that voters and candidates for the legislature meet high property ownership or income requirements. (hawaiibar-org)

This requirement excluded two-thirds of the formerly eligible Native Hawaiians from voting. For those who could still vote, they first had to swear allegiance to the Bayonet Constitution. (hawaiibar-org)

“… the King asked the Diplomatic Representatives present to name a Cabinet for him which they declined to do, provided Mr Green was allowed to do so for himself.”

“The following is the Cabinet selected by Mr Green, which has been approved by the King and they have entered upon their official duties: WL Green, Minister of Finance and Premier; Godfrey Brown, Minister of Foreign Affairs; LA Thurston, Minister of the Interior; and CV Ashford, Attorney General” (the Hawaiian Gazette, July 5, 1887)

Kalākaua signed the document July 6, 1887, despite arguments over the scope of the changes. It created a constitutional monarchy like that of the United Kingdom.

In addition, it placed the executive power, as a practical matter, in the hands of a cabinet appointed by the king but responsible to the legislature; changed the character of the legislature by making the nobles as well as the representatives elective, by redefining the qualifications of nobles, representatives and electors; and made it less easy for the king to exercise a personal influence over members of the legislature. (ksbe-edu)

The king’s authority as commander-in-chief of the military forces was modified by a new clause providing that “no military or naval force shall be organized except by the authority of the Legislature.”

LA Thurston touched briefly on this subject in his account of the Revolution of 1887: “An allegation has been made that the 1887 constitution was not legally enacted … Unquestionably the constitution was not in accordance with law; neither was the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Both were revolutionary documents, which had to be forcibly effected and forcibly maintained.” (kuykendall)

On July 30, 1889, Robert William Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 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.

Two years later, Kalākaua retired to Waikīkī. His health began to fail by 1890 and under the advice of his physician he traveled to San Francisco, where he was given a warm welcome. “A title was a title, and (the Americans) enjoyed him as a personality.” (Tabrah))

Kalākaua died on January 20, 1891, at the age 54, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Kalākaua, Hawaiʻi’s last King, is said to have uttered his last words: “Tell my people I tried.”

January 17, 2023 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)

Here is the URL: https://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.

Commenters, please focus on the facts and if referring to the linked document. Please note the page and line number you are referring to (please include your source reference, as well).

Raising_of_American_flag_at_Iolani_Palace-1898

July 22, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

House of Nobles

The first Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi adopted in 1840 replaced the informal council of chiefs with a formal legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom and cabinet.

The Hawaiian government was a constitutional monarchy comprised of three branches: Executive (Monarch and Cabinet), Legislative (House of Nobles and Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower courts).

The King also had a private council – the Privy Council is distinguished from a modern cabinet of the executive; in the monarchical tradition, a Privy Council lent legislative powers to the monarch and served judicial functions.

While the first official record of the Privy Council began in July 1845, the body existed previously as the council of chiefs (the House of Nobles similarly comprised of the members of the council of chiefs.)

Under the leadership of King Kamehameha III, the Privy Council was authorized by the Act to Organize the Executive Ministries on October 29, 1845. The Kingdom of Hawai`i’s Privy Council was a body comprised of five ministers and the four governors along with other appointed members that served to advise the King.

Kingdom of Hawai‘i Constitution of 1852, Article 49 noted, “There shall continue to be a Council of State for advising the King in the Executive part of the Government, and in directing the affairs of the Kingdom, according to the Constitution and laws of the land, to be called the King’s Privy Council of State.”

The Legislative Department of the Kingdom was composed of the House of Nobles and the House of Representatives. The King represented the vested right of the Government class, the House of Nobles were appointed by the King and the House of Representatives were elected by the people. (puhnawaiola)

The cabinet consisted of a Privy Council (officially formed in 1845) and five powerful government ministers. Gerrit P Judd was appointed to the most powerful post of Minister of Finance; Lawyer John Ricord was Attorney General; Robert Crichton Wyllie was Minister of Foreign Affairs; William Richards Minister of Public Instruction and Keoni Ana was Minister of the Interior.

Under the 1840 Constitution the Kuhina Nui’s (position similar to “Prime Minister” or “Premier”) approval was required before the “important business of the Kingdom” could be transacted; the king and the Kuhina Nui had veto power over each other’s acts; the Kuhina Nui was to be a special counselor to the king; and laws passed by the legislature had to be approved by both before becoming law. The Kuhina Nui was ex-officio a member of the House of Nobles and of the Supreme Court. (Gething)

The former council of chiefs became the House of Nobles, roughly modeled on the British House of Lords. Seven elected representatives would be the start of democratic government.

(The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is independent from, and complements the work of, the elected House of Commons – they share responsibility for making laws and checking government action. Members of the House of Lords are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister.) (parliament-uk)

The 1840 Hawaiʻi Constitution stated: “House of Nobles. At the present period, these are the persons who shall sit in the government councils, Kamehameha III, Kekāuluohi, Hoapiliwahine, Kuakini, Kekauōnohi, Kahekili, Paki, Konia, Keohokālole, Leleiōhoku, Kekūanāoʻa, Kealiʻiahonui, Kanaʻina, Keoni Ii, Keoni Ana and Haʻalilio.”

“Should any other person be received into the council, it shall be made known by law. These persons shall have part in the councils of the kingdom.”

“No law of the nation shall be passed without their assent. They shall act in the following manner: They shall assemble annually, for the purpose of seeking the welfare of the nation, and establishing laws for the kingdom. Their meetings shall commence in April, at such day and place as the King shall appoint.”

“It shall also be proper for the King to consult with the above persons respecting all the great concerns of the kingdom, in order to promote unanimity and secure the greatest good. They shall moreover transact such other business as the King shall commit to them.”

“They shall still retain their own appropriate lands, whether districts or plantations, or whatever divisions they may be, and they may conduct the business on said lands at their discretion, but not at variance with the laws of the kingdom.”

Members of its companion body, the House of Representatives, were elected by the people, with representatives from each of the major four islands. Proposed laws required majority approval from both the House of Nobles and the House of Representatives, and approval and signature by the King and the Premier. (Punawaiola)

This body was succeeded by a unicameral legislature in 1864, which also imposed property and literacy requirements for both legislature members and voters; these requirements were repealed in 1874. (Punawaiola)

That there even was a constitution, plus the basic outline of the government it established, clearly reflected the counsel of the American missionaries. Yet, many of the older Hawaiian traditions remained (ie the concept of the council of chiefs.) (Gething)

The House of Nobles originally consisted of the king plus five women and ten men (women did not get the right to vote in the US until 1920). After the overthrow and the subsequent annexation, it was renamed the Senate.

The first meeting of the House of Nobles was on April 1, 1841 in the ‘council house’ at Luaʻehu in Lāhainā. The image shows Lāhainā at about that time.)