CLAIMING CHRISTIANITY: THE STRUGGLE OVER GOD AND NATION IN HAWAIʻI, 1880–1900 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY DECEMBER 2013 By Ronald C. Williams Jr. Dissertation Committee: Jonathan K. Osorio, Chairperson David Hanlon David Chappell Suzanna Reiss Noenoe Silva Copyright © 2013 Ronald Clayton Williams Jr. All rights reserved i This work is dedicated to the many remarkably generous, kind, and gracious folks who, without pause, opened their churches, their homes, and their lives to me over the past ten years as we listened to voices and shared stories. This story is yours, and that of your kūpuna, and I am humbled to have been given the opportunity to discover it along with you. Also, to the numerous writers of the past, who, with foresight and dedication, documented their unending devotion to their ‘āina and their lāhui. I am sincerely blessed to have been a part of all that has happened during this work. Mahalo nō hoʻi. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Anyone who has taken on a project such as this knows well the great debt that is owed to the numerous people that have contributed to its completion in a variety of ways. It exists because of each of them, and in this work, I am deeply grateful to all. I start with thanks to my first kumu, the late Akoni Akana, who took a skinny, haole, farm-boy from Arkansas under his wing and generously shared much more than I deserved. I remember his whispered exhortation to “treasure each Hawaiian word you speak” as if it was yesterday. I thank my first academic kumu, Kīʻope Raymond, who taught me much more than school lessons, lit a fire of interest in me with his reserved but obvious passion, and provided an excellent example to strive for. There is no question I would not be at this point today without the generous and steadfast support of the entire ʻohana at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. Since arriving there ten years ago as an undergraduate student, and through eight years of teaching there, I have never stopped knowing how blessed I am to have the opportunity to work at such an amazing place. To my first mentor, Haunani-Kay Trask, the brilliant, determined, and caring teacher whose classes, writings, and office “talk- story” sessions, I crave today. To my other kumu there who shared their ʻike, manaʻo and aloha: Kanalu Young, Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, Jonathan Osorio, and Pōmaikaʻi Kanīʻaupiʻo- Crozier, mahalo nunui. And I offer a huge mahalo to Mehana Hind, the brilliant, strong, and beautiful wahine who welcomed, with open arms and reassuring words, this nervous haole boy who was visiting from Maui. One of the many blessings of having been raised, academically, at Kamakakū is the never-ending reminder of the true iii purpose our work should serve. I was never allowed to forget that everything we do should be for the betterment of the community. That direction has led me to one of the greatest rewards I have ever known - the brilliant joy of connecting research and knowledge with the people to whom it means so much. That I get to wake every day and do that for a living, humbles me, and I deeply grateful for the opportunity. A thank you to the teachers, staff, and my fellow students at the Center for Pacific Island Studies, where I did my masters degree. Thank you David Hanlon - who has continued to be a true and caring provider of wisdom, knowledge, and never-ending support - Terrence Wesley-Smith, Coco Needham, James Stiefvater, and everyone there. A special and sincere thanks goes to my kumu, Noenoe Silva, whose exacting standards and unfailing support often combined to allow you to produce something better than you thought you could. Her incredible work and caring style have been a model for both my research and my teaching. I thank my committee for their work in directing and guiding me on this path. Many thanks to my kumu, Puakea Nogelmeier, whose home has always been open and whose phone never seems to be turned off. I have relied on his sage advice and deep knowledge many more times than I could possibly count. I would like to thank the late Jerry Bentley, whose passing was a great loss, but whose clear and succinct advice I continue to carry with me. Thank you also to the colleagues and friends that have inspired, motivated, and supported me through this journey: Krista Seinfeld, Monica LaBriola, Lance Nolde, Ponipate Rokolekutu, Erin Cozens, Jonathan Wong and many others. The Hawaiian Society of Law and Politics Mānoa Gardens beer crew, Keanu Sai, Willy Kauaʻi, Donovan Preza, and Lorenz Gonschar have been an invaluable hui of development and support. iv My work would be impossible with out the dedicated and talented people that staff the libraries and archives, both in Hawaiʻi and elsewhere. Leah Caldeira at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Archives has truly been a significant part of this journey. Barbara Dunn, Desoto Brown, Mary Judd, Dore Minatodani, Joan Hoari, Stu Dawrs, John Barker, the staffs at Harvard University’s Houghton Library and Williams College Archives, deserve much thanks. A heartfelt mahalo nunui goes to the generous congregations and kahu of Waiola Church in Lāhainā, the churches of Ka Makua Mau Loa, Kahu Hanalei Colleado and his ʻohana, and the Gibson ʻohana of Hāʻiku, Maui. And finally, a thank you to those who have sustained and motivated me in other vital ways during this work: Donna Lanakila Willard, the late Shirley Ann Kahai, Brad Jones, Misty Sitton, Ludine States, John Mark, KAY, my eager students that continue to keep me grounded, and most of all, my beloved daughter, Kiele Makana Mālie Williams. v ABSTRACT A dominant, teleological narrative concerning Christianity in Hawaiʻi has described a fatalistic progression from the 1820 arrival of American Protestant missionaries to the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. It posits Christianity as a tool of foreign usurpers and has worked to elide Native claims on both God and nation. It is based almost exclusively on English-language research. This dissertation contests and complicates that narrative by foregrounding and analyzing the prolific actions of Native Christian patriots during the political struggles of the latter part of the nineteenth century in Hawaiʻi. It utilizes Hawaiian-language primary sources to examine how Christianity became a central tool of the Native struggle for the life of their land and lāhui. The extant record of Native Christian action and writing of this period offers an entirely new understanding of the relationship between the Mission, Christian institutions of the period, and Native Hawaiian Christianity. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………......iii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...……vi List of Figures……………...………………………………………………………...……x Introduction……………………………………..…………………………………………1 Chapter I - Hōʻeuʻeu Hou: The Shaping of a New “Mission”………………..………….24 a. Native Christian Claims………………………………………………31 b. Bayonet……………………………………………………………….43 c. Hōʻeuʻeu Hou (Revival).......................................................................52 d. The “Exception”………………………………………………………64 e. An Expatriate in Ohio……………………………………………...…67 Chapter II - Kani i ka Pō (Resound in the Darkness)……………………………………75 a. Two Missions Collide………………………………………………..79 b. In God’s Name We Pray……………………………………………..84 c. Reviving the Rhetoric of Heathenism to Sell a New Mission…….…89 d. An English-speaking Audience………………………………………91 e. International Voice…………………………………………………...96 f. A Hawaiian-Language Audience……………………………...…....104 g. Personal Messengers for God and Nation……………………......…107 h. The AEH Battlefield…………………………………………......…114 Chapter III - Sites of Struggle: Inside the Native Churches of the AEH………...……..122 a. Ka ‘Ekalesia Hōʻole Pope o Waineʻe (Waineʻe Protestant Church).124 b. Palapala Hoʻohui: Codification of Local Governance……………...129 vii c. Waineʻe Church as a Center of Resistance……………………...….132 d. The Hawaiian Board Strikes Back………………………………….144 e. A Battle over God and Nation……………………………………...150 Chapter IV - Be Ye Separate: Claiming Christianity…………………..………...…..…166 a. Ka ‘Ekalesia Hōʻole Pope o Kaumakapili (Kaumakapili Protestant Church)……………………………………...…………..171 b. Halawai Makaʻāinana ma Kaumakapili (Mass meeting at Kaumakapili)......................................................................................173 c. Royal Connections.............................................................................178 d. Organizing For the Struggle...............................................................182 e. Overthrow..........................................................................................186 f. The Struggle Conitinues......................................................................197 Chapter V – Poʻe Karitiano ʻOiaʻiʻo (True Christians)…………………………...……203 a. God’s Arbiters………………………………………………..……..203 b. “E ku e na hoahanau!” (Stand Brethren!)………………..………....213 c. Kahunapule Hoʻohui ʻĀina (Annexationist Pastors)……………….222 d. A Native Christian Patriotism…………………………...………….230 Conclusion - Claiming Christianity as a Tool of Native Struggle……………..……….239 a. An Altered Mission……………………………………...……….…241 b. A Clarity of Purpose.….............…………...……………...………..247 c. Christianity as a Native Institution…………………..……………..251 d. Native Agency and the Historical Record…………..…..………….252 Epilogue – A Genealogy of Experience……………………………...……..…………..257 a. Preserving the Link: Native