Hauoli La Kuokoa

Today is a conspicuous date – November 28th – that will likely fail to be observed, except perhaps by a few at ʻIolani Palace who remember their history. While most celebrated a holiday last Thursday that had nothing to do with Hawaiʻi when it was first observed, Lā Kūʻokoʻa, literally “the day of standing separate” – Hawaiʻi’s independence day, will go unmarked.

Two simultaneous events were involved with the creation of Lā Kūʻokoʻa, efforts to gain diplomatic recognition of Hawaiʻi’s soveriegnty, and the “Paulet Episode,” which immediately tested that sovereignty. The strategy used by the Hawaiian Kingdom to attain sovereignty was to gain entry into the family of nations – the de facto international system of independent states, which are subjects of international law. On April 8 1842, Kauikeaouli (King Kamehameha III) sent three envoys – William Richards, Timoteo Ha‘alilio, and Sir George Simpson – to Europe and the US to gain formal recognition from the US, France and Great Britain. It is such recognition that bestows on a nation the status of independent state. Haʻalilo and Richards braved many hardships crossing Mexico to get to its East Coast and to Washington. Simpson travelled directly to Europe through Siberia, and the group met in Western Europe.

Simpson first went to Belgium to gain recognition from King Leopold. The King of Belgium was a relative of both Queen Victoria and King Louis Phillipe of France. Using this leverage, the delegation sought the recognition of Britain and France. The two countries jointly granted Hawai‘i formal recognition and pledged “never to take possession” of Hawai‘i in the Anglo-Franco proclamation of November 28, 1843. The declaration read:

“Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and his majesty the King of the French taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of regulating the relations with foreign nations have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Islands as an Independent State, and never to take possession … of any part of the Territory of which they are composed.”

US President Tyler assured the envoys that the US would recognize Hawaiʻi but needed Congress to approve. This amounted to a verbal recognition of Hawai‘i’s sovereignty. A later treaty put this recognition in writing. The significance of formal diplomatic recognition was that the Hawaiian Kingdom joined the international “family of nations,” and international law applied to Hawai‘i.  This is the international system that Hawaiʻi later appealed to during the events of the overthrow. HawaiʻI was the thirty-third member of the family of nations and the first with a non-European head of state. The Kingdom’s entry pre-dated the Ottoman Empire’s entry in 1856 and the formation of Germany and Italy.

November 28, the day on which the Britain and France granted formal recognition to the Hawaiian Kingdom, became thereafter a Hawaiian National Holiday, Lā Kū‘oko‘a – Indepedence day, first celebrated in 1844.

Hawaiʻi’s sovereignty was being recognized and tested simultaneously. While the envoys were on their mission, Lord George Paulet seized HawaiʻI in February 1843 and King Kamehameha III ceded the Kingdom under protest while following a diplomatic path to undo the action of Paulet. This was successful five months later on July 31st, and led to another holiday, Lā HoʻihoʻI Ea, but that’s a story to be covered in July.