The Great Māhele ("to divide or portion") or just the Māhele was the Hawaiian land redistribution proposed by King Kamehameha III. The Māhele was one of the most important episodes of

Hawaiian history The history of Hawaii describes the era of human settlements in the Hawaiian Islands. The islands were first settled by Polynesians sometime between 124 and 1120 AD. Hawaiian civilization was isolated from the rest of the world for at least 50 ...

, second only to the

overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents and six non-abori ...

. While intended to provide secure title to indigenous Hawaiians, it separated many of them from their land.

Bill of Rights

The 1839 Hawaiian Bill of Rights, also known as the

1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii The 1840 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom titled was the first fully written constitution for the Hawaiian Kingdom. The need for a constitution was originally intended as a manner of laws set forth to control the Native Hawaiian population w ...

, was an attempt by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to guarantee that the Hawaiian people would not lose their tenured land, and provided the groundwork for a free enterprise system. The document, which had an attached code of laws, was drafted by Lahainaluna missionary school alumnus Boaz Mahune, revised by the Council of Chiefs and by Kamehameha III in June 1839.

1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii

The

established a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

. It stated that the land belonged to its people and was to be managed by the king. It established executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The document established allodial title property rights which maintained the lands in the hands of Hawaiian subjects to ''mālama'' (nurture and sustain). In order to protect Hawaiian lands from foreigners, Kamehameha III divided the lands among all the people of Hawaiʻi, ''aliʻi'', ''konohiki'' and ''makaʻainana'' alike. The Mahele changed the previous land system under which the ''kuleana'' (responsibility and obligation) to ''mālama'' ''ʻāina'' was given by the ''mōʻī'' (king) to an ''aliʻi nui'' (high chief), his subordinate ''aliʻi'' and ''konohiki'' who received taxes and tribute from the people who worked the land collectively. Private land ownership did not exist. The Māhele came into effect on March 7, 1848. It allocated one-third of the land to the ''mōʻī'' (monarch), known as

Hawaiian crown lands In 1898, the United States Congress annexed Hawaiʻi based on a Joint Resolution of Annexation (Joint Resolution). Questions about the legitimacy of the U.S. acquiring Hawaii through a joint resolution, rather than a treaty, were actively debated ...

. Another third was allocated among the ''aliʻi'' and ''konohiki'' (chiefs and managers of each ''ahupuaʻa (''traditional land division running from the coast to the mountaintop). The remaining one-third was given to the ''makaʻāinana'' (common people). The law required land claims to be filed within two years under the Kuleana Act of 1850. Many Hawaiians made no claim. Most of the land was sold by the government of the Republic to settlers from the continental US or auctioned to the Big Five corporations. This resulted in the state owning 32% of the land, while another 4.8% became

Hawaiian Homelands A Hawaiian home land is an area held in trust for Native Hawaiians by the state of Hawaii under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920. History Upon the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the idea for "Hawaiian Homelands" was first born. ...

Legislative action

Alien Land Ownership Act

While opponents

Kamehameha IV Kamehameha IV (Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku; anglicized as Alexander Liholiho) (February 9, 1834 – November 30, 1863), reigned as the fourth monarch of Hawaii under the title ''Ke Aliʻi ...

, Kamehameha V and missionary physician Gerrit Judd were traveling, on July 10, 1850 the legislature passed the Alien Land Ownership Act. It allowed foreigners to hold title to land. The Act was written by Chief Justice William Little Lee. The justification was the promise of prosperity resulting from an influx of capital and labor.

Kuleana Act-August 6, 1850

The Kuleana Act of 1850 allowed commoners to petition for title to land that they cultivated and lived on, similar to the homesteading laws used to manage land tenure in US territories in the nineteenth century. It abolished the right of cultivation and pasturage on the larger, common lands, title of which went to the chief, the crown or the government. Ownership of land was a previously unknown concept for ordinary Hawaiians. Many did not understand the need to make a claim for land where they already lived and/or worked. Communication depended upon word-of-mouth or literacy. Making a claim required money to pay for a pre-claim land survey. The system required two witnesses to confirm that the claimant had worked the land. About 18,000 plots of 3 acres each were successfully claimed,. representing 28,658 acres, or less than 1% of Hawaii’s land area (this was partly because significant parts of the mountainous islands were not suitable for agriculture or settlement). The Kingdom's population at the time was some 82,000. Members of higher classes and ''aliʻi'' obtained most Hawaiian land. Many successful claimants later lost their property due to the ongoing effect of western diseases and property taxes.

References

External links

Mahele Book, Hawaii State Archives

"Ua Koe Ke Kuleana O Na Kanaka"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Mahele Hawaiian Kingdom Indigenous land rights in Hawaii 1848 in Hawaii 1848 in law Legal history of Hawaii