| 1864 Constitution Of The Kingdom Of Hawaii |
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BACKGROUND Kamehameha V ascended the throne in 1863. He was a firm believer that the king should be the person firmly in control of Hawaii's government, as it had been done in Hawaii for hundreds of years before the passage of the 1840 and 1852 constitutions. Kamehameha V (as well as his predecessor, Kamehameha IV ) was often irritated by the controls on his power by the 1852 constitution. He also didn't believe that all Hawaiians should have the right to vote because he didn't believe that they were yet capable of voting intelligently. Instead, he thought the vote should be given to those with property and a certain level of education. Thus, when Kamehameha V ascended the throne, he refused to take an oath to the 1852 constitution. Instead, he called for a constitutional convention. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION For the convention, delegates were elected by the population. They met at Kawaiahao Church on July 7 , 1864 . Kamehameha V, conferring with his advisors, drafted a constitution and presented it to the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. The members of the convention, however, were not able to agree on Kamehameha V's constitution. Their main concern was of Kamehameha V's new voting requirements. Kamehameha V quickly grew impatient and dissolved the convention. Then, he simply announced that his constitution would replace the 1852 constitution as the ultimate law of the land, even though Kamehameha V's actions did not follow the provisions set by the 1852 constitution on amending the constitution. CHANGES IN HAWAII'S GOVERNMENT The Constitution of 1864 brought several changes to Hawaii's government. Among these changes were:
REFERENCES Potter, Norris W. and Kasdon, Lawrence M. ''Hawaii, our Island State''. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., 1964. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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