Governors of Kauai

The Governor of Kauaʻi (Hawaiian: Kiaʻaina o Kauaʻi) was the royal governor or viceroy of the island of Kauaʻi and island of Niʻihau during the Kingdom of Hawaii. The governor was usually a male Hawaiian chief or prince, but several women also held the office. The governor had authority over the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, and it was up to the governor to appoint lieutenant governors to assist them. The governor had replaced the old alii aimokus of the islands, but the sovereignty remained with the king. The first governor was the last king of Kaumualiʻi, and it was not until his death in 1824 that Queen Kaʻahumanu and King Kamehameha II took control from his sons. The island governors were under the jurisdiction of the Ministers of the Interiors.

Role

In the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii it 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.

Abolishment

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 Kauaʻi
Name Picture Birth Death Assumed office Left office Notes Monarch
Vassal ruled by ex-King Kaumualiʻi of Kauai from 1810 to September 16, 1821.
Maihinenui Said to be the sister of Kaumualii Kamehameha II
Kahalaiʻa Luanuʻu  ? April 27, 1826 c. 1824 c. 1825 Kamehameha II
Kamehameha III
Kaikioʻewa c. 1765 c. 1839 c. 1825 April 4 or 10, 1839 Kamehameha III
Emelia Keaweamahi November 24, 1848[6] April 4 or 10, 1839 c. 1842 Governor Kaikioʻewa's widow Kamehameha III
Kekauʻōnohi
c. 1805 June 2, 1851 c. 1842 c. 1845 Kamehameha III
Paul Kanoa
c. 1802 November 10, 1885 October 21, 1846 January 4, 1877 Kamehameha III
Kamehameha IV
Kamehameha V
Lunalilo
Kalākaua
John Edward Bush
February 15, 1842 June 28, 1906 January 4, 1877 c. 1880 Kalākaua
Frederick William Kahapula Beckley Sr.
November 26, 1845 January 7, 1881 August 16, 1880 January 7, 1881 Kalākaua
Paul Puhiula Kanoa
June 10, 1832 March 18, 1895 January 12, 1881 c. 1886 Governor Kanoa's hānai son Kalākaua
Lanihau June 19, 1852 October 24, 1914 July 31, 1886 August 23, 1888 Kalākaua
Interregnum
William Hyde Rice
July 23, 1846 June 15, 1924 February 8, 1892 February 28, 1893 Liliuokalani

[7]

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. August 23, 1888. p. 101. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. An Act To Establish A Governor On Each Of The Islands Of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai. November 14, 1890. pp. 159–160. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  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'. February 27, 1893. p. 44. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. "Governors (island)" (PDF). official archives. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  6. Cooke, Amos Starr; Cooke, Juliette Montague (1937). Richards, Mary Atherton (ed.). The Chiefs' Children School: A Record Compiled from the Diary and Letters of Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke, by Their Granddaughter Mary Atherton Richards. Honolulu: Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 317. OCLC 1972890.
  7. "Governor of Kauai" (PDF). official archives. state of Hawaii. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
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