The Reform Party, also referred to as "the Missionary Party", or the "Down-Town Party",
was a political party in the
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
. It was founded by descendants of Protestant missionaries that came to Hawaii from New England. Following the
Annexation of Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is ...
in 1898, and the creation of the
Hawaii Territory
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Ap ...
in 1900, the party was largely supplanted by the
Hawaii Republican Party
The Hawaii Republican Party ( haw, ʻAoʻao Lepupalika o Hawaiʻi) is the affiliate of the Republican Party (GOP) in Hawaii, headquartered in Honolulu. The party was initially strong during Hawaii's territorial days, but following statehood the ...
. In 1902, The Reform Party ceased to exist and completely merged into the Republican Party. In 1912, the Republicans merged with the pro-
Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaii ...
Home Rule Party, led by Prince Kuhio in 1900, to form the
Hawaii Republican Party
The Hawaii Republican Party ( haw, ʻAoʻao Lepupalika o Hawaiʻi) is the affiliate of the Republican Party (GOP) in Hawaii, headquartered in Honolulu. The party was initially strong during Hawaii's territorial days, but following statehood the ...
in its modern composition. The fused Republican Party would lead the so-called "Haole-Hawaiian Alliance," with uninterrupted Legislative majorities until Democrats took control of the Legislature in
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
.
Background
In 1820 the first
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
missionaries arrived in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, sent a year earlier by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
.
Led by Hiram Bingham, the board organized missionaries in 1819 to travel to Hawaii aboard the ''Thaddeus''. Bingham and the missionaries were appalled by the Native Hawaiians lack of clothing and believed them to be less than human. Kamehameha II was cautious and allowed only half the party to settle in Honolulu and the other half to remain close to him on the big island. Eventually the monarch allowed a trial period of one year for the missionaries to remain in the islands.
The missionaries urged Hawaiian rulers to adopt
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
.
The ali'i were suspicious of the missionaries at first but slowly began to trust them.
The missionaries advised the monarchs on everything from politics to social ethics from their Puritan perspective.
After the death of Kamehameha,
Queen Ka'ahumanu
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
came to power under Liholiho. As a
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, she banned the old
Hawaiian religion
Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitian ...
in the islands. A later ban on Catholicism would lead to repercussions with
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
when French
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
missionaries were deported.
Origins
"Missionary party"
The families of several missionaries became wealthy and their descendants were able to launch businesses and establish plantations in the islands.
According to "The Friend" (Honolulu publication) from the turn of the twentieth century, there were 91 sons and 73 daughters of missionaries with 101 grandsons and 73 granddaughters living in Hawaii. This was an estimated 1/20 of the white population of Hawaii at the time (a figure that excluded the Portuguese population). It was common to refer to the entire white population as "the missionary party" and it was a common belief that they ruled the islands having leading positions in society. The missionary publication ''The Missionary Review of the World'' (1900) states; "They form the best element of the population of Hawaii".
The missionary party was heavily involved in land and labor issues but were not able to gain control over government foreign affairs. Most of them were U.S. citizens that were already in constant communications with the US as well as continuous trading. They controlled all aspects of media, business and politics in Hawaii. After teaming up with the U.S. Republican Party and the U.S. Navy there was little left to exploit. A campaign of brainwashing followed to convince Hawaiians that the U.S. was the legitimate ruler and that they were, in fact, Americans, according to Dallas Carter.
Land, labor, sugar and suffrage
Descendants of missionaries began to prosper. ''"The missionaries came to do good and stayed to do well"'' is an old adage used in Hawaii. The
Reverend Amos Cooke is one of many missionaries that did well under
Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K ...
. Cooke came to Hawaii from
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
in 1837 and ran the
Royal School to educate the future rulers of the islands. In 1843 Cooke took a position as an unofficial advisor to the king's special board, against the rules of the Board of Missionaries that prevented members from serving in political positions. The first thing he did was to attain title to valuable Hawaiian land. In his book "Overthrow", author and journalist Stephen Kinzer states; ''"Buying it was complicated since Native Hawaiians had little notion of private property or cash exchange. They had great difficulty understanding how a transaction - or anything else for that matter - could deprive them of land".'' Cooke was able to help convince Kamehameha III to institute extraordinary land reform, opening up the purchase of as much land as one could buy.
In 1875, the
Reciprocity Treaty with the U.S. was forced through and removed all tariffs from cane sugar from Hawaii and contained a provision allowing the U.S. exclusive rights to maintain military bases in the islands. Protests by Native Hawaiians erupted immediately, taking eight days and 220 armed soldiers to put down. The protest were violent and the monarch had to request American assistance. 150 marines were landed to protect the government. The exportation of sugar flowed for decades creating immense wealth that also came with both economic and political power. Nearly all government positions became almost exclusively white.
Along with another missionary named
Samuel Northrup Castle
Samuel Northrup Castle (August 12, 1808 –July 14, 1894) was a businessman and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Early life
Samuel Northrup Castle was born August 12, 1808 in Cazenovia, New York. His middle name is sometimes spelled "Northrop" ...
, Cooke would form the
Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke, Inc., is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture, including becoming, through mergers with the modern Dole F ...
company which would become the world's largest sugar producer and one of the "Big Five" that controlled politics in Hawaii for almost a hundred years. They were also the largest landowners in Hawaii. But with plantations came a need for labor. To the white plantation owners, Hawaiians made for poor labor so contract laborers were brought in from China and Japan. This created a demographics challenge to the white missionary leaders. They were outnumbered by the Hawaiian, Japanese and Chinese populations. Tight restrictions on democracy in Hawaii had to be instituted by Americans in order to maintain minority control. Suffrage for even just men would bring to power a non-white government.
References
{{reflist
1902 disestablishments in Hawaii
Political parties disestablished in 1902
Political parties in Hawaii
Defunct political parties in the United States