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of the t r e a t y . " 84/ Spalding's report probably had some, although not major, influence on the t r e a t y ' s rejection by the U.S. Congress. 85/ Plight of the People As a result of the c o n s t i t u t i o n al developments described above, native Hawaiian men had the right to vote for the members of the kingdom's house of r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . They did not, however, share in the growing prosperity of the kingdom. The native population continued i ts precipitous decline. Liholiho singled out the problem of the decrease in the native population in his speech opening the l e g i s l a t u r e in 1855. He suggested a two-fold attack on the problem: reduction in loss caused by disease, and encouragement of Polynesian immigrants to reinforce and reinvigorate the Hawaiian stock. The l a t t e r plan was eventually accomplished through labor immigration, although it was not always to the s a t i s f a c t i o n of the native Hawaiians, as noted above. To improve the economic well-being of the native Hawaiians, efforts were made by Kings Kamehameha IV and V to i n t e r e s t them in the growing a g r i c u l t u r a l industry. Some native Hawaiians did grow potatoes, but the potato as a cash crop did not survive long. The Native Hawaiian Agricultural Society was set up in 1856, but it was not very successful in encouraging greater production from Hawaiians. Growing sugar required l a r g e - s c a l e operations and was monopolized by Americans. The native Hawaiians did not share the white man's view of the future in terms of p r o f i t and loss, and the result was that the native population existed on the fringes of the impending economic boom. Constitutional Change On the death of Liholiho on November 30, 1863, his older brother (Prince Lot) succeeded to the throne as Kamehameha V. Unlike his predecessor, Kamehameha V did not take the oath to uphold the kingdom's c o n s t i t u t i o n , promulgated in 1852. Even during the reign of l i h o l i h o, the king and his advisors had attej •-- ted to amend the Constitutirr: of lc,52. The most objectionable features of the l a t t e r included the existence of the office of the kuhina nui, the power of the privy council, universal male suffrage, and the absence of property q u a l i f i c a t i o n s for members of the House of Representatives. King Kamehameha V believed that the Constitution of 1852 was far in advance of the needs of the people, and he called a convention to draft a new c o n s t i t u t i o n . When the convention deadlocked on the question of property q u a l i f i c a t i o n s , the kinq adjourned the convention, abrogated the old c o n s t i t u t i o n and promulgated a new one a week l a t e r . The principal chanqes embodied in the Constitution of 1864 were: • The office of kuhina nui was abolished; • The powers of the privy council were curtailed, while the administrative powers of the king and cabinet were strengthened; • The nobles and people's representatives would s it together as the l e g i s l a t i ve assembly; and • There would be property q u a l i f i c a t i o n s for the representatives and property and educational qualifications for voters.
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