| Elections in Hawaii |
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Legislative elections were held in theHawaiian Kingdom in 1886 to determine the composition of the 28-memberHouse of Representatives. During the elections theNational Party andIndependent Party bitterly campaigned for control of the House of Representatives. Despite their efforts, the Independents once again lost to PremierWalter M. Gibson's National Party.[1]
In 1882 the popular member of the Hawaiian House of RepresentativesWalter M. Gibson was appointed Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom by KingKalākaua.[2] Walter Murray Gibson quickly became Kalākaua's "Minister of Everything" and set much of Hawai'i's domestic and foreign policy until 1887. Much of the Gibson's administration's agenda was based around keeping the Hawaiian government in control of indigenous Hawaiians and setting up a unitedPolynesianconfederation with Hawai'i at its center.[3] Supporters of the King and Premier Gibson rallied behind the National Party.[4]
However, since theelections of 1884 opposition to Gibson's administration existed in the form of the Independent Party, led by wealthy American planters likeLorrin A. Thurston,Sanford B. Dole, andWilliam R. Castle, with a few Native Hawaiian politicians who also opposed Gibson.[4] In 1885, leaders of the Independents would meet in Honolulu, where they unanimously voted to run for election in 1886. This was the first meeting of the infamousCommittee of 13 that would come to dominate Hawaiian politics.[5]
National Party and Independent candidates fought hard and toured the islands ofMaui,Moloka'i, andHawai'i. National Party candidates painted the Independents and disgruntled foreign businessmen who planned to take over the Kingdom while Independents accused Government candidates of corruption, voting fraud, and handing over the kingdom to wealthyCalifornia capitalists.[1]
Despite the heavy campaigning, the Independents ended up losing seats overall from the 1884. Kuykendall attributes the victory to dubious voting practices on the hands of the King[1] while Moblo points out that fear rose from the Native Hawaiian community that the Independents wanted to undermine Hawaiian control of government and the King, especially from the Committee of Thirteen, making in Hawaiians hesitant to vote Independent.[4]
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| Party | Seats | +/– | |
| National Party | 18 | +3 | |
| Independent (Kuokoa) Party | 10 | –3 | |
| Total | 28 | 0 | |
| Source: Kuykendall | |||
The Gibson and Kalākaua administration took the results of the election as a popular affirmation to their administration. In 1887 the Gibson administration purchased the tradershipKaimiloa and sent representatives toSamoa to convince negotiate a possible confederation between the two states, angering many Independent representatives and planters who saw the whole endeavor as a waste of resources.[6]After their electoral defeat and the Samoa mission, the Committee of Thirteen would plot the illegal seizure of the King's government. In 1887 with the armed support of theHonolulu Rifles, they would present themselves to the King as his "Reform Cabinet", arrested Gibson and other Government Party ministers, and forced him to sign theConstitution of 1887,[4] also known as the Bayonet Constitution because they held the King at gun point in order for him to sign it.[7] The new constitution disenfranchised Asian subjects, empowered wealthy White foreigners, limited Native Hawaiian voting rights, and striped the King of much of his power. In fact, there was even plans to overthrow the monarchy entirely and establish a Hawaiian Republic with the intent to get annexed by the United States in L. A. Thurston's files, but these did not yet come to fruition.[8]