The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom () was the bicameral (later

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

)

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A royal legislature was first provided by the 1840 Constitution and the 1852 Constitution was the first to use the term Legislature of the Hawaiian Islands, and the first to subject the

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

to certain democratic principles. Prior to this the monarchs ruled under a Council of Chiefs (ʻAha Aliʻi).

Structure

The Legislature from 1840 to 1864 was bicameral and originally consisted of a lower House of Representatives and an upper House of Nobles as provided for under the Constitutions of the Kingdom of 1840 and

1852 Events January–March * January 14 – President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic. * January 15 – Nine men representing various Jewish charitable organizations come tog ...

, until abolished by the 1864 Constitution which then provided for a

Legislature.

House of Nobles

The members of the upper House of Nobles (Hale ʻAhaʻōlelo Aliʻi) were appointed by the Monarch with the advice of his Privy Council. It also served as the court of impeachment for any royal official. Members were usually Hawaiian aliʻis, nobles, and royal or wealthy individuals. The position had no salary. It originally consisted of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Queen 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 ...

plus five women and ten men. After the overthrow of the Kingdom and the subsequent

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

annexation in 1898, this body was reconstituted as a Senate under the territorial constitution of the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

House of Representatives

The members of the lower House of Representatives (Hale ʻAhaʻōlelo Makaʻāinana) were elected by popular vote from several districts in the Kingdom. Revenue-oriented bills were issued through the House of Representatives, and it also served as the " grand inquest" of the Kingdom.

History

From 1840 to 1864, it existed as a bicameral parliament. However, with the 1864 Constitution, the Legislature was temporarily unified into a single-house (

) legislature. This Constitution also created property and literacy requirements for both Legislature members and voters; these requirements were later repealed by the Legislature in 1874 during the reign of King

Lunalilo Lunalilo (William Charles Lunalilo; January 31, 1835 – February 3, 1874) was the sixth monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii from his election on January 8, 1873, until his death a year later. Born to Kekāuluohi and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina, ...

. The subsequent 1887 Constitution restored the two chambers as a bicameral legislature and made the revived upper House of Nobles elected to six-year terms, with higher property ownership requirements. After 1893, and 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 ...

, it became the Legislature of the brief Republic of Hawaii, followed in 1898 by the

after the American annexation. This was followed 61 years later by the present Hawaii State Legislature in 1959 after the admission to the Union of the Territory as the 50th State. It now consists of the lower

Hawaii House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consists ...

and upper house of the Hawaii Senate as the bicameral legislative body of the State of Hawaii under the 1959

Hawaii Admission Act The Admission Act, formally An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union () is a statute enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower which dissolved the Territory of Ha ...

and

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Presidents of the House of Nobles

* King Kamehameha III (1840–1851) *

Keoni Ana Keoni Ana, full name John Kalaipaihala Young II (March 12, 1810 – July 18, 1857), was a politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii, serving as Kuhina Nui of the Hawaiian Islands and Minister of Interior. Early life Keoni Ana was born on March 12, ...

(1852–1854) * Lot Kamehameha (1855) *

(1856) * Legislature did not meet in 1857 * Mataio Kekūanāoʻa (1858–1860) * Legislature did not meet in 1861 * Lot Kamehameha (1862) * Legislature didn't meet in 1863

Speaker of the House of Representatives

* William Little Lee (1851) * George Morison Robertson (1852–1853) * Asa Goodale Tyerman Thurston (1854) * George Morison Robertson (1855–1856) * Legislature did not meet in 1857 * George Morison Robertson (1858–1859) * James W. Austin (1859) *

Lawrence McCully Lawrence McCully (May 28, 1831- April 10, 1892) was a justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court and Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives. McCully, son of Charles McCully, was born in New York City on May 28, 1831. About two years later his f ...

(1860) * Legislature did not meet in 1861 * William Webster (1862) * Legislature did not meet in 1863

Presidents of the Legislature

* Mataio Kekūanāoʻa (1864–1868) * Paul Nahaolelua (1870–1874) *

Charles Reed Bishop Charles Reed Bishop (January 25, 1822 – June 7, 1915) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist in Hawaii. Born in Glens Falls, New York, he sailed to Hawaii in 1846 at the age of 24, and made his home there, marrying into the ...

(1874) * Godfrey Rhodes (1876–1878) *

(1880) * Godfrey Rhodes (1882–1884) * John Smith Walker (1886) *

Samuel Gardner Wilder Samuel Gardner Wilder (June 20, 1831 – July 28, 1888) was an American shipping magnate and politician who developed a major transportation company in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Life Samuel Gardner Wilder was born June 20, 1831, in Leominster, ...

(1887) * William Richards Castle (1887) *

(1888) * William Richards Castle (1888) * John Smith Walker (1890–1893)

Vice-Presidents of the Legislature

* Samuel Northrup Castle (1864) * Godfrey Rhodes (1866) * John Mott-Smith (1867), ''pro tempore'' * Godfrey Rhodes (1868) * Harvey Rexford Hitchcock Jr. (1870) * David Howard Hitchcock Sr. (1872–1873) * Simon Kaloa Kaʻai (1874) * Luther Aholo (1876–1886) * John Kauhane (1887–1893)

References

{{reflist, 30em Hawaiian Kingdom Hawaii law Hawaii, Kingdom 1840 establishments in Hawaii 1893 disestablishments in Hawaii