Difference between revisions of "Template:Nhsc-v1-64"

Latest revision as of 18:28, 22 March 2006

• An oath pledging the voter would not aid in any attempted restoration of the monarchy;
• The ability to read, write, and speak either Hawaiian or English;
• To vote for Senators, the voter was required to have $1,500 above all incumbrances, or personal property worth $3,000, or an income of $600 (in a ll cases, all taxes must have been paid). There were no property qualifications required to vote for members of the House of Representatives. 110/

Another issue the Republic's constitution had to resolve was the question of citizenship. This issue was "rather skillfully " 111/ handled to ensure exclusion of all Orientals from the franchise. The constitution stated that all persons born or naturalized in Hawaii were citizens. In addition, the Minister of Interior could grant citizenship to foreigners who had fought for the Provisional Government, without prejudicing the foreigner's native allegiance (an action that would prove to be controversial). 112/ For others, in order to be naturalized a person must have come from a country that had a naturalization treaty with Hawaii (Japan and China did not) and, "as an extra precaution," should be able to speak, read, and write English. 113/

The obvious result of these provisions was to disenfranchise many voters. One historian notes, however, that registration for the first legislative election (although far below pre-Republic levels) showed "great improvement" over the number of voters who had registered for election of delegates to the constitutional convention. 114/ On Oahu, 1,917 voters registered, of whom there were 509 native Hawaiians, 466 Americans, 274 from England and its colonies, 175 Germans, 362 Portuguese, and 131 others. 115/

Territory and State

After annexation to the United States and passage of the implementing legislation (the Organic Act) in 1900, the situation changed dramatically. Broad male suffrage was restored in Hawaii for the first time since 1864. All citizens of the Republic automatically became citizens of the Territory of Hawaii and there were no property qualifications for voters or for candidates. Because Oriental immigrants were still excluded from voting due to the definition of citizenship, native Hawaiians could command an absolute majority at the polls. 116/

Royal presence in this new political pattern, especially in partisan party politics, was assured when Prince David Kawananakoa became one of the charter members of the new Hawaii Democratic Party and his younger brother, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, occupied a similar position in the new Hawaii Republican Party. In this way, it was believed that the royal family could maintain a dominant role in island government. Prince Kuhio, for example, served as the Territory's delegate to Congress from 1904 until his death in 1921. The delegate's position, although non-voting in the national legislature, was the highest elective office for which any voters could cast ballots. As a Territory, Hawaii could not vote for the U.S. president or vice president, it had only the one non-voting slot in the U.S. House of Representatives, and its governor and secretary were appointed by the President of the United States.

From 1902 until 1940, the Territory identified voters by "race." Although