The Causes Of The Great Mahele Of 1848

According to the information present in the speech given by a man named, Sanford J Dole, the Americans imperializing Hawai’i was a constructive motion. This is due to the fact that throughout the speech, Dole informs his audience on the benefits both the Hawaiians and Hawai’i would gain through Hawai’i being a territory of the United States(US). The speech was given on June 10th, 1900, at Iolani Palace, after Dole was elected to be the governor of the Territory of Hawai’i. As the speech is an original document, it is a primary source. Based on the information provided in the speech, the message Dole is trying to convey is that the day Hawai’i became a territory of the US, is one of the most important days in Hawaiian history. This is because

In the beginning, Hawaii was unknown to any humans. Polynesians eventually came across its islands, and decided to make it their home. In the early days, each island was ruled by a chief, and many times the islands were in conflict with each other. Centuries like this passed, but then "in 1782, [Queen Lili'uokalani's] cousin Kamehameha set out to conquer and unite the islands". Thirteen years later, in 1795, Kamehameha

The Revolutions of 1848 have been described as the “greatest revolution of the century”1. From its mild beginnings in Palermo, Sicily in January 1848, it did not take long to spread across the rest of Europe (Britain and Russia were the only countries not to experience such revolutions). “In 1848 more states on the European continent were overcome by revolution than ever before and ever since”2. The Revolutions became more radical but after June 1848 these revolutionary events began to overlap with those of counterrevolutionary actions, thus enabling the old regimes to return to power. 1848 was described as “a sunny spring of the peoples abruptly interrupted by the winter of the princes”3.

In Ancient Hawaii, King Kamehameha the Great unified the Hawaiian Islands. After Kamehameha unified the islands he rewarded his loyal followers making them chiefs and letting them rule over the land. Then after Kamehameha the Great died his son Kamehameha III did very little to change the land ownership in Hawaii. But Kamehameha III divided the land into two separate categories with the Act of 1848 “The Great Mahele”. There was the Crown Lands that he kept for himself and the Government lands which were to be split between the commoners, government, and the chiefs. The Great Mahele of 1848 had social, political, and economical effects on the Native Hawaiians.

The Great Mahele was an act proposed in 1848 allowing Hawaiian land to be privately owned, and the rest redistributed. The occurrence of this event not only affected Hawaiians back then, but still to this day impacts them. The King continued to divide land for the government and maka’ainana could get land for active labor. The king also shared his land between himself and 245 more ali’i; his land- “Crown Lands” and ali’i- “Konohiki Lands” (Mahele Notes). The Mahele of 1848 was a land division separated into 4 different categories: land belonged to the king, land belonged to the ali’i or chiefs, land that could be purchased by the foreigners who lived in Hawaii, and land worked by the commoners or maka’ainana. The Mahele was unjustified because

Accordingly as planned, the Mahele began with the king, chiefs, and maka’ainana owning one third of all lands, but as time went on the maka’ainana land began to reduce rapidly (Cachola). Unfortunately, not knowing how to buy land or earn money, the land set aside for buying soon became foreign owned land. Seeming like enough land owned by the foreigners, apparently it wasn’t, more and more Hawaiians could not pay taxes, leaving foreigners with an abundance of land to purchase with little competition. Nonetheless, while land was being taken from the Hawaiians, foreigners prospered, almost taking over all of the land in Hawaii. There was an abundance of land owned by the foreigners and Hawaiians owned almost nothing after removed from their beloved homes.

The Revolutions of 1848 During the year of 1848, a revolutionary tide broke out in Europe.

Europe underwent a wave of revolutions during the 19th century. This series of political upheavals was known as the Revolutions of 1848. The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of republican revolts against European monarchies. The revolutions began in Italy, in January 1848, and eventually spread to the rest of Europe. The Revolutions of 1848 were significant because they were the most widespread and violent political movements of Europe in the 19th century. Ultimately, the ideas of conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism impacted the Revolutions of 1848.

The Great Māhele was a land division put in place that happened during the reign of Kamehameha III. Māhele translates to “portion or divide. The intent was to secure land for Hawaiians by establishing a free enterprise system, but landowners had to claim their land. Hawaiians were not accustomed to the concept of owning land, so very few claimed their own land. This resulted in the Hawaiian population eventually losing most of their land to foreigners.

One man unified eight islands from 1782-1810 in 28 years, producing the first Hawaiian Kingdom (Wikipedia, Kamehameha. Another tried to unite a broken country ten times before finally succeeding, sacrificing many along the way (Britannica School, Sun Yat-Sen) These two ambitious achievers are the great men Kamehameha I and former Chinese President of the Kuomintang Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Kamehameha I was the first ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom, implementing trade, building foreign relationships, and securing the rule of the Hawaiian monarch. (Potter, 23) Kamehameha’s actions built up what is Hawai’i today, with all its might, its mistakes and failures and its rich history. On the other hand lies Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, considered the founder of modern China.

In 1848, An event called the “Mahele” changed the traditional Hawaiian system of land tenure from communal use to private ownership (Kameeleihiwa 3). Events in the past of Hawaii, like the Mahele of 1848, left a devastating mark in Hawaii’s history; It helped eventually lead to the overthrow of the monarch and still affects today’s problems in Hawaii.

This had a big impact on the Hawaiians because this allowed the foreigners to buy land. Even though the Mahele was to be split a fair amount among all the people living on the islands, that did not work out for the foreigners. The Mahele allowed the foreigners to come to Hawai’i and claim Hawaiians lands, but instead the foreigners decided to buy almost completely all the lands due to the new idea of King Kamehameha III’s royal advisors idea of land ownership. When the foreigners claimed and bought the land, it messed everything up for the Hawaiians such as available

The Mahele was unjustified time because they took their land from the Hawaiians and made them pay for it, . The Mahele started in 1848 and the hawaiian government was overthrown in 1893. Foreigners thought that Hawaiians would give up their lazy ways if they owned land. The foreigners took the Hawaiians land without them knowing. The Mahele was unjustified because they had no food, they took the land without them knowing, and they only talked english.

The Hawaiians were further depicted as "thieves" like the rest of the "people in Polynesia," and plagued with the barbaric accusation of committing infanticide. These so called "facts" were enough for the Euro-American forces to send out missionaries to regulate the Hawaiian people and take over their land and all their practices. (Stannard, 381- 417)

The revolutionaries in Italy had longstanding grievances, some were nationalists and some were liberals. Despite all having different ideas and aims they all resoundingly agreed that Italy needed change. The hopes of the various revolutionary groups had been raised by the election of Pope Pius and Charles Albert the King of Piedmont Sardinia. However, their hopes and resulting revolutions were crushed due to many concerning factors.