Governors of Hawaii (island)

The Governor of Hawaiʻi Island (Hawaiian: Kiaʻaina o na Mokupuni o Hawaiʻi) was the royal governor or viceroy of the Island of Hawaiʻi during the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Governor of Hawaii was usually a Hawaiian chief or prince and could even be a woman. There were no restriction of women in government in the House of Nobles or Governorship of the islands. The Governor had authority over the island of Hawaii, the biggest island in the kingdom, and it was up to the governor to appoint lieutenant governors to assisted them. The governor had replaced the old Aliʻis of the islands, but sovereignty remained with the king. The island governors were under the jurisdiction of the Ministers of the Interiors.

Role

The 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii states:

There shall be four governors over these Hawaiian Islands - one for Hawaiʻi - one for Maui and the Islands adjacent - one for Oʻahu, and one for Kauaʻi and the adjacent Islands. All the governors, from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi shall be subject to the King.

The prerogatives of the governors and their duties, shall be as follows: Each governor shall have the general direction of the several tax gatherers of his island, and shall support them in the execution of all their orders which he considers to have been properly given, but shall pursue a course according to law, and not according to his own private views. He also shall preside over all the judges of his island, and shall see their sentences executed as above. He shall also appoint the judges and give them their certificates of office.

All the governors, from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi shall be subject not only to the King, but also to the Premier.

The governor shall be the superior over his particular island or islands. He shall have charge of the munitions of war, under the direction of the King, however, and the Premier. He shall have charge of the forts, the soldiery, the arms and all the implements of war. He shall receive the government dues and shall deliver over the same to the Premier. All important decisions rest with him in times of emergency, unless the King or Premier be present. He shall have charge of all the King's business on the island, the taxation, new improvements to be extended, and plans for the increase of wealth, and all officers shall be subject to him. He shall also have power to decide all questions, and transact all island business which is not by law assigned to others.

When either of the governors shall decease, then all the chiefs shall assemble at such place as the King shall appoint, and shall nominate a successor of the deceased governor, and whosoever they shall nominate and be approved by the King, he shall be the new governor.

Abolition

After King Kalākaua was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution in 1887, the island governorships began to be viewed as wasteful expenses for the monarchy. The governors and governesses at the time (who were mainly royals or nobles) were also viewed unfit to appoint the native police forces and condemned for "their refusal to accept their removal or reform by sheriffs or the marshal". The island governorships were abolished by two acts: the first act, on December 8, 1887, transferred the power of the police appointment to the island sheriffs, and the second, An Act To Abolish The Office Of Governor, which officially abolished the positions, on August 23, 1888. King Kalākaua refused to approve the 1888 act, but his veto was overridden by two-thirds of the legislature. These positions were restored under the An Act To Establish A Governor On Each Of The Islands Of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai on November 14, 1890, with the effective date of January 1, 1891. One significant change was this act made it illegal for a woman to be governor ending the traditional practice of appointing female royals and nobles as governess. Kalākaua died prior to reappointing any of the island governors, but his successor Liliuokalani restored the positions at different dates between 1891 and 1892. After the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the Provisional Government of Hawaii repealed the 1890 act and abolished these positions on February 28, 1893 for the final time.[1][2][3][4][5]

List of governors of Hawaiʻi Island

Name Picture Birth Death Assumed office Left office Notes Monarch
Direct rule by King Kamehameha I.
Mokuhia Appointed but assassinated soon after Kamehameha I
John Young ʻOlohana
c. 1742 December 17, 1835 c. 1802 c. 1812 Kamehameha I
Direct rule by King Kamehameha I, later Queen Kaahumanu and King Kamehameha II.
John Adams Kiiapalaoku Kuakini
c. 1789 December 9, 1844 c. 1820 April 1, 1831 Kamehameha III
Kamehameha II
Naihe ? December 29, 1831 April 1, 1831 December 29, 1831 acting Kamehameha III
John Adams Kiiapalaoku Kuakini
c. 1789 December 9, 1844 c. 1833? December 9, 1844 11 Kamehameha III
William Pitt Leleiohoku I March 31, 1821 October 21, 1848 December 9, 1844 c. 1846 Kamehameha III
George Luther Kapeau ? October, 1860 c. 1846 c. 1855 acting until July 1850
deputy was J. M. Kapena
Kamehameha III
Ruth Keʻelikōlani
February 9, 1826 May 24, 1883 January 15, 1855 c. 1874 Lt. Governor was Rufus Anderson Lyman Kamehameha IV
Kamehameha V
Lunalilo
Samuel Kipi
May 4, 1825 March 11, 1879 March 2, 1874 March 11, 1879 Died in office Kalākaua
Likelike
January 13, 1851 February 2, 1887 March 29, 1879 c. 1880 Kalākaua
Victoria Kūhiō Kinoiki Kekaulike II
May 12, 1843 January 18, 1884 September 2, 1880 January 8, 1884 Kalākaua
Virginia Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani
April 7, 1839 October 2, 1895 January 21, 1884 c. 1886 Kalākaua
Ululani Lewai Baker
c. 1858 October 5, 1902 October 15, 1886 August 23, 1888 Kalākaua
Interregnum
John Tamatoa Baker
c. 1852 September 7, 1921 February 8, 1892 February 28, 1893 husband of Governor Ululani Baker Liliuokalani

[6]

See also

References

  1. Newbury, Colin (2001). "Patronage and Bureaucracy in the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1840–1893". Pacific Studies. Laie, HI: Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus. 24 (1–2): 1–38. OCLC 607265842. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15.
  2. An Act To Abolish The Office Of Governor. Laws of His Majesty Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu: Gazette Publishing Company. August 23, 1888. p. 101.
  3. An Act To Establish A Governor On Each Of The Islands Of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai. Laws of His Majesty Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu: Gazette Publishing Company. November 14, 1890. pp. 159–160.
  4. Act 19 – An Act to Repeal an Act Entitled 'An Act to Establish a Governor on Each of the Islands of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai'. Laws of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu: Robert Grieve, Steam Book And Job Printer. February 27, 1893. p. 44.
  5. "Governors (island)" (PDF). official archives. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  6. "Governor of Hawaii" (PDF). official archives. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
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