Kingdom Of Hawaii Government Kamehameha Dynasty Elected Monarchy

The 1840 Constitution created a bicameral parliamentAlternative meanings: Parliamentary system, Parliament (band), Parliament (cigarette). A parliament is a legislative body, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. in charge of legislation. The two houses of the legislatureA legislature is a governmental deliberative body with the power to adopt laws. Legislatures are known by many names, including: parliament congress diet and national assembly . In parliamentary systems of government, the legislature is formally supreme a were the House of Representatives (directly elected by popular vote) and the House of Nobles (appointed by the monarch with the advice of the Cabinet). The same constitution created a judiciary, charged with overseeing the courts and interpretation of laws. The Supreme Court was led by the Chief Justice, appointed by the monarch with the advice of the Cabinet.

The islands of Hawai‘i were divided into smaller administrative divisions: Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Maui, and Hawai‘i. Kaua‘i region included Ni‘ihauNi‘ihau at 70 sq. miles (182 sq. km), is the smallest of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands in the US State of Hawai‘i. The island's dimensions are 30 km by 10 km (6. 6 mi; 50% larger than uninhabited Kaho‘olawe). The maxium elevation (Paniau) is 390 m (1280, while Maui region included Kaho‘olaweKaho‘olawe is the smallest of the 8 main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located southwest of Maui and southeast of Lna‘i and is 11 miles (18 km) long by 6 miles (10 km) across. Total area is 45 mile² (117 km²). The highest point, Lua Maki, Lāna‘i and Moloka‘i. Each administrative region was governed by a governorA governor is an official who heads the government of a colony, state or other sub-national state unit. Most countries in the world have some sort of official known as a governor, though in some countries, the heads of the states, provinces and regions ma appointed by the monarch.

2 Kamehameha Dynasty

From 1810 to 1893, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i would be ruled by two major dynastic families, the Kamehameha Dynasty and the Kalakaua Dynasty. Five members of the Kamehameha family would lead the government as its king. Two of them were direct sons of Kamehameha the Great himself. They were Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III). For a period between Liholiho and Kauikeaouli's reigns, Kamehameha the Great's primary wife, Queen Ka‘ahumanu, would rule as Queen Regent and Kuhina Nui, or Prime Minister.

Dynastic rule by the Kamehameha family tragically ended in 1872 with the death of Lot (Kamehameha V). Upon his deathbed, he summoned Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to declare his intentions of making her heir to the throne. She was the last direct Kamehameha family member surviving. She refused the crown and throne in favor of a private life with her husband, Charles Reed Bishop. Lot died before naming an alternative heir.

Kamehameha I, ( 1795- 1819)
Kamehameha II, Liholiho, ( 1819- 1824)
Kamehameha III, Kauikeaouli, ( 1825- 1854)
Kamehameha IV, Alexander Liholiho, ( 1854- 1863)
Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa, ( 1863- 1872)

3 Elected monarchy

The refusal of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to take the crown and throne as Queen of Hawai‘i forced the legislature of the Kingdom to declare an election to fill the royal vacancy. From 1872 to 1873, several distant relatives of the Kamehameha line were nominated. In a popular vote, William C. Lunalilo became Hawai‘i's first of two elected monarchs.

William C. Lunalilo, ( 1873- 1874)

4 Kalākaua Dynasty

Like his predecessor, Lunalilo failed to name an heir to the throne. He died unexpectedly after less than a year as King of Hawai‘i. Once again, the legislature of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i was forced to declare an election to fill the royal vacancy. Queen Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV, was nominated along with David Kalākaua. The 1874 election was opined to be one of the nastiest political campaign seasons ever in Hawai‘i history. Both candidates resorted to mudslinging and rumors. David Kalākaua was elected the second elected King of Hawai‘i.

Hoping to avoid uncertainty in the monarchy's future, Kalākaua proclaimed several heirs to the throne and defined a royal line of succession. His sister Lili‘uokalani would succeed the throne upon Kalākaua's death. It was indicated that Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani would follow. If she could not produce an heir by birth, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana‘ole would rule after her.

David Kalkaua, ( 1874- 1891)
Lili‘uokalani, ( 1891- 1893)

5 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i

Queen Lili‘uokalani's inherited a monarchy that was left impotent by her brother's Bayonet Constitution of 1887. David Kalākaua's Royal Cabinet forced him at gunpoint to sign the constitution stripping the monarchy of much of its power in favor of an administration controlled by Americans. The constitution was the opening salvo to the end of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

In 1893, American businessmen seeking to protect their industrial profits in the exportation of goods like sugar to the United States of America organized the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. American troops aboard the USS Boston landed in Honolulu to help Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A Thruston 's Committee of Safety, a 13 member council of businessmen plotting to depose Queen Lili‘uokalani. At the gunpoint of American soldiers, Queen Lili‘uokalani was removed from ‘Iolani Palace under arrest, tried by the American Judge Advocate General's Corps and then imprisoned in her own home.

Dole and his committee declared itself the provisional government and proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Hawai‘i. Dole became its president. As a republic, it was the intention of the provisional government to campaign for annexation with the United States of America. With annexation, their goods and services exported to the mainland would not be subject to American tariffs. The provisional government succeeded when in 1897, Congress approved the Treaty of Annexation creating the U.S. Territory of Hawai‘i. Dole was appointed its first governor.

6 Royal estates

Early in its history, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i was governed from several locations including coastal towns on the islands of Hawai‘i and Maui ( Lahaina). It wasn't until the reign of Kamehameha III that a capital was established in Honolulu on the Island of O‘ahu.

By the time Kamehameha V was king, he saw the need to build a royal palace fitting of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i's new found prosperity and standing with the royals of other nations. He commissioned the building of the palace at Ali‘iolani Hale. He died before it was completed. Today, the palace houses the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai‘i.

David Kalākaua shared the dream of Kamehameha V to build a palace for all the same reasons. He commissioned the construction of ‘Iolani Palace from which he and his successor would govern. In later years, the palace would become his sister's makeshift prison under guard by the U.S. Armed Forces, the site of the official raising of the U.S. flag during annexation, and then the site of the territorial governor's and legislature's offices.

6.1 Palaces

‘inahau, Home of Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani
Ali‘iolani Hale, Originally designed as a Palace for Kamehameha V, although Kamehameha V later decided to convert the building into a government building during construction
Hanaiakamalama , Summer Palace of Queen Emma
Hulihe‘e Palace, Palace of Princess Ruth
Keoua Hale, Palace of Princess Ruth
‘Iolani Palace, Palace of the Kalākaua Dynasty

6.2 Royal grounds

7 Other notable Hawaiian royals

7.1 Kamehameha Dynasty

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Princess of Hawai‘i
Ka‘ahumanu, Queen Regent of Hawai‘i
Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili , Queen Consort of Hawai‘i
Victoria Kamamalu, Queen Consort of Hawai‘i
Ruth Ke‘elikolani, Princess of Hawai‘i
Keopuolani , Queen Consort of Hawai'i
Kina‘u , Queen Regent of Hawai'i
Emma Rooke, Queen Consort of Hawai'i
Elizabeth Kekaaniau , Princess of Hawai'i
Theresa Owana Kaohelelani , Princess of Hawai'i

7.2 Kalākaua Dynasty

Victoria Ka‘iulani, Princess of Hawai‘i
Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana‘ole, Prince of Hawai‘i
Julia Kapi‘olani, Queen Consort of Hawai‘i
Abigail Campbell Kawananakoa, Princess of Hawai‘i
David Kawananakoa, Prince of Hawai‘i
William Pitt Leileiohoku , Prince of Hawai‘i
Miriam K. Likelike, Princess of Hawai‘i

8 Other notable royal subjects

8.1 Authors and artists

Henri Berger, composer
Robert Louis Stevenson, author

8.2 Civil leaders

John Adams Kuakini , governor
Charles Reed Bishop, businessman and philanthropist
James Campbell, businessman and philanthropist
Archibald Cleghorn, businessman and royal consort
Sanford B. Dole, chief justice
John Owen Dominis, governor and royal consort
Gerrit P. Judd, royal advisor
Kuini Liliha, governor
Lorrin A. Thurston, lawyer and publisher
Robert William Wilcox, soldier
John Young , royal advisor

8.3 Religious leaders

Father Damien, Catholic missionary
Louis Maigret, Catholic bishop
Thomas Nettleship Staley, Anglican bishop

9 See also

10 References

Lydia Lili‘uokalani Dominis, Hawai‘i's Story by Hawai‘i's Queen Lili‘uokalani, Mutual Publishing Co., 1994
Michael Dougherty, To Steal a Kingdom: Probing Hawaiian History, Hawaiian Style Press, 1994
Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hawai‘i: The Past, Present, and Future of Its Island Kingdom: An Historic Account of the Sandwich Islands of Polynesia, Kegan Paul International Ltd., 2003
Ralph Simpsin Kuykendall, Hawai'i: A History, from Polynesian Kingdom to American State, Textbook Publishers, 2003
Ralph Simpson Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom: Foundation and Transformation, 1778-1854, Vol. 1, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1995
Ralph Simpson Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom: Twenty Critical Years, 1854-1874, Vol. 2, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1995
Ralph Simpson Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdon Volume 3: 1874-1893, the Kalakaua Dynasty, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1995
Aldyth Morris, Lili‘uokalani, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1995
Juri Mykkanen, Inventing Politics: A New Political Anthropology of the Hawaiian Kingdom, University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003
Niklaus R. Schweizer, His Hawaiian Excellency: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Annexation of Hawai‘i, Lang, Peter Publishing, Inc., 1994

11 External links

Overthrow of the Monarchy, Article by Pat Pitzer, Spirit of Aloha, May 1994
Hawaiian Kingdom Separatist Government

Hawaii, Kingdom of Hawaii history

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