Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands -  Part 23 - The Ancients

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Historical Collections of Hawaii
Keepers of the Culture
Influence of Foreigners on Hawaii
Part 23 - Constitution of 1840
Impact on the Hawaiians

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Part 23 -

Contitution of 1840

The course of constitutional development, interrupted by the visit of
Captain Laplace of France, was taken up again after the reverberations
of that episode had died away, and came to fruition in the contstitution
of 1840, signed by the king and Kuhina-nui, Kamehaneha III and
Kekauluohi, on October eighth at Honolulu, after it had been agreed to
by the council of chiefs. The constitution, as Judge Frear suggests, was
mainly declaratory or descriptive of the existing political institutions
of the country, but it did contain some innovations, and of these the
most significant was the creation of a representative body, or, as we
should say, a house of representatives, chosen by the people, as part of
the national legislature.This for the first time gave the common people
a share in the government --- actual political power. Another innovation
was the creation of a supreme court, to consist of the king, the
kuhina-nui, and four other judges appointed by the representative body.
Aside from the grant to the common people of a right to exercise
political power, the constitution of 1840 was important for the reason
that it put in writing -- somewhat crudely, it is true-- a statement of
the plan of government and a definition of the powers and duties of the
various officials.

A slightly amended version of the declaration of rights served as a
preamble. The constitution proper opened with a statement of certain
principles to be observed in the making and enforcement of laws; no law
should be enacted which was at variance with the word of God; there
should be complete freedom in the matter of religion; every innocent
person who was injured by anoher should have redress, and all wh
committed crimes should be punished; no man should be punished without a
lawful trial; no one should sit as judge or juror in his own case or in
the case of one especially connected with him. An exposition was given
in the principles  on which the present dynasty is founded, and this was
followed by a statement of the prerogatives, powers, and duties of the
king and the kuhina-nui, who together wielded the supreme executive
authority. It was provided that there should be four governors, who
should have general charge, each in his particular place and subject to
the king and kuhina -nui, of all matters of government which were not by
law assigned to other officials. The law making power ws lodged in a
legislative body composed of two branches: the council of chiefs,
including the king and kuhina-nui ( which afterwards came to be called,
in English, the house of nobles ); and a representative body to be
chosen by the people. It was provided that the two houses might sit
separately or together and that new laws must have the approval of a
majority of each house and signed by the king and the kuhina-nui. The
next section of the constitution dealt with the tax officers; they were
to be appointed by the king and the kuhina-nui, and not only assessed
and collected the taxes, but aslo served as judges in all cases arising
under the tax laws and in cases between land agents and between
landlords and their tenants. From their decisions an appeal might be
taken to the governor and from the governor to the supreme court. The
inferior or district judges on the several islands were to be appointed
by the governors; it was their business to hear and decide all cases
arising under the laws except those within the jurisdiction of the tax
officers; from the decisions of these inferior judges an appeal might be
taken to the supreme court. The supreme court was composed
of the king, the kuhina-nui, and four other judges appointed by the
lower branch of the legislature; this court had only appellate
jurisdiction. The constitution could be amended by the legislature after
a year's notice had been given of any proposed change.
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The year 1840 became clear that the Hawaiian nation had reached a
critical point in its history. Foreign interests had become so extensive
and complex that the native politico-economic system was no longer able
to stretch itself over the problems that arose. The increasing
activities of the great maritime powers of the Pacific Ocean bears, from
Hawaii, the menacing aspect of a storm cloud on the horizon. The true
Hawaiian race is, to all appearance, dying out or intermarrying with
foreigners and the resources of the land were a large part idle and
untouched --- a promise and a temptation to foreign lands. What were the
Hawaiian to do to save their Hawaiian people and the Hawaiian
governmant? Many discussions took place, and of course, as before, the
missionaries and other resident foreigners came forward with their ideas
as to be necessary, and they were: (1) to develop the latent industry of
the people and the natural resources of the land; (2)  to get Hawaii
formally recognized as an independant nation; (3) to establish a
government along modern constitutional lines which would be understood
and respected by foreigners as well as the natives. The missionaries
were compelled to admit that while a great change had been effected in
the religious views and relgious institutions of the country, little or
no impovement had been made in the economic condition of the nation. So
impressed were they on their survey, they prepared a memorial on the
importance of increased effort to cultivate the useful arts among the
Hawaiian people. They wrote:

"The people need competent instruction in agriculture, manufacture, and
the various methods of production, in order to develop the resouces of
the country........ They need competent instruction immediately in the
science of government, in order to promote industry, to secure ample
means of support, and to protect the just rights of all, both native and
foreign. They need much instruction and aid in getting into operation
and extended influence those arts and usages which are adapted to the
country, calculated to meet the wants, call forth and direct energies of
the people in general, and to raise up among them intelligent and
enterprising agents, qualified to carry on the great work of reform here
and elsewhere......

They need more powerful promptings and encouragements to effect and
enterprise than they have now have, and unless something more can be
done for the people, they will not provide well either for the rising or
future generations; they will not sustain good schools for the education
of their children; they will not raise up and maintain a competent
number of well trained ministers, physicians, lawyers, legislators,
etc., nor will they have manufacturers and mecrchants of their own to
conduct the business of the country. But foreign speculators may be
expected to seize on the advantages which the country affords for
agriculture, maufactures and commerce; and an inevidentable influx of
foregn population, induced only by the love of pleasure and mostly gain,
would doubtless hasten the waste of the natives; and at no distant
period, the mere mouldering remnants of the nation could be pointed out
to the voyager."

It must be kept in mind that the missionaries and others who professed
an interest in the welfare of the Hawaiian people assumed without
question that the pattern of western culture with which they were not
familiar in America and Europe was superior to the culture of the
Hawaiians and that the latter would as a matter be happier and better
off in every respect if they acquired the foreign culture. But in order
to effect that result, the habits of the people would have to be changed
and their wants multiplied, and the resources of the country would have
to be developed so that there would be products suitable for export, to
exchange for useful and desirable goods brought from other countries.
Little did they consider the fact that along with other countries
foreigners could bring into the country diseases and unwanted viruses
that could make the original Hawaiian people become extinct. All they
could believe that with their changes, in cooperation with their
Christian religion, would save the native race from extinction
An estimate of 1840 had ben made of the population and the fact revealed
that the Hawaiian people were decreasing at an alarming rate.

Earlier in 1825, an English agriculturist named John Wilkinson, who had
been a planter in the West Indies, arrived at Honolulu on the frigate
Blonde. h had made some arrangements wth Governor Boki, while the latter
was in England, to go out and engage in cultivating sugar cane and
coffee and in making sugar and, probably rum. A plantation was
established in the upper part of Manoa valley near Honolulu. Six months
after beginning operataions Wilkinson had about seven acres of cane
growing. he encountered many difficulties. His partner, Governor Boki,
had apparently promised to provide laborers for the enterprise, but
there was evidence that Wilkinson had trouble with the natives due to
his arbitrary manner. Tools and equipment were lacking or inadequate.
Untimely rains raised the stream and destroyed
a dam under construction at the mill-site. the undertaking was
handicapped by the shortage of funds. Wilkinson was ill much of the time
and died on September 17, 1826. before his death he had manufacured a
small quanity of sugar. Governor Boki then assumed charge of the
plantation and put a large number of natives to work upon it, paying
them, according to one authority, at the rate of two dollars a week. The
making of sugar continued, a road opened through the valley, and the
cane field much enlarged.
Levi Chamberlain who visted the plantation ad gave a brief account of it
and stated : " In a few years if the natives preserve the cultivation of
cane and maufactureing of it into sugar.the nation may be supplied with
that article and a surplsage remain for exportation." Captain Beechey of
the H.B.M.S. Blossom wrote
from Honolulu to a gentleman in California that "the Sandwich Islanders
think of sending a cargo of sugar to your coast in a few months --- the
sugar has been made here, and looks very good indeed."

About this time, Kalanimoku, prime minister and elder brother of Boki,
caused the sugar mill to be removed from Manoa valley and set up in the
back part of Honolulu, with a view to encouraging the natives in that
part of the islad to raise sugar cane. Kalanimoku died, Boki became
interested in other things, and the whole enterprise seems to have been
more or less neglected. The following year a new direction was given to
it. Boki, ether leased the mill and the plantation to a company of
foreign residents ( William French, Stephen Reynolds,John C. Jones, and
John Ebbets ) or took them into prtnership with himself. The mill was
converted into a distillery for the manufacture of rum, which gave
promise of being more profitable product then sugar. But at this time
Queen Regent Kaahumanu and most of the powerful chiefs had become
christians and had taken a strong stand in favor of temperance. A law
was placed upon the business of making rum; the missionaries, who had
the only ox-carts in the village, refused to allow them to be used for
carrying cane to the mill, and Kaahumanu caused the cane fields
destroyed. The foreign residents were greatly enraged and one of them,
William French, afterwards accussed the missionary Rev. Hiram Bingham of
having made him lose
$7,000 through the failure of the distillery

Other interests were made and introduced by the missionaries in weaving
of cloth , and etc but as interests of concentrating their attentions to
the work of evangelism, religious istruction, and literary education,
and their own businesses they attributed the Hawaiians were left fairly
much on their own learning from foreigners who came to the Sandwich
Islands to make their own fortunes. Often being employed as cheap
laborers, and treated as ignorant people, however, one must not under
estimate the native Hawaiian, as they were quick learners and stored
their knowledge. As the ancient peoples were given the opportunity to
learn, they did survive, and raised their families with the pride of
ancient families. The constitution gave the commoners the same
opportunity as their chiefs, and the chiefs had the opportunity to
become as one as the commoners. The door had been opened ---  

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