MISSIONARIES & MERCHANTS

(1820 - 1840)

 

I.  Missionaries

         A.  New England Calvinists

                  1.  'Ōpūkaha'ia at Foreign Mission School

                  2.  American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

                           a) purpose: civilize & save

                           b) politics & law of God

         B.  First ABCFM Mission to Hawaii

                  1.  Who?

                           a) Hiram Bingham & Asa Thurston (ordained ministers)

                           b) lay specialists:

                                    -- Daniel Chamberlain (farmer)

                                    -- Elisha Loomis (printer)

                                    -- Samuel Ruggles & Samuel Whitney (teachers)

                                    -- Thomas Holman (physician)

                                    ==> six bachelors in search of wives

                           c) Hawaiians educated at FMS

                                    -- Hopu or Thomas

                                    -- William Kanui

                                    -- John Honoli'i

                                    -- George Kaumuali'i

                  2.  When?

                           a) left Boston Oct. 23, 1819 aboard Thaddeus

                                    -- 18,000 miles in five months

                           b) arrived in Hawaii on March 30, 1820

                                    -- kapu system overthrown in 1819

                                    -- one year probation

                  3.  Where?

                           a) Thurston & Holman = Kailua, Hawai'i

                           b) Whitney & Ruggles = Waimea, Kaua'i

                           c) Bingham & the rest = Honolulu, O'ahu

                  4.  What?

                           a) Perceptions (Hawaiian & Missionary)

                           b) Reception

                                    -- Ka'ahumanu (1821 illness)

                                    -- Liholiho (1823 trip to London)

                           c) Political Influence

                                    -- New Moral Laws (1824 & 1827)

                                    -- French Catholics (1827-1831)

                           d) Education

II.  Merchants

         A.  Hawaii's location in Pacific (China trade)

         B.  Three commodities bring trading ships

                  1.  fur (~1785 - 1820)

                  2.  sandalwood (1810 - 1829)

                  3.  whale oil (1820 - 1860)

         C.  What was traded in Hawaii?

                  1.  traders want: food, water, wood, sailors, R&R

                  2.  Hawaiians want: iron, firearms, Western goods

         D.  Foreign Representatives

                  1.  British consul = Richard Charlton (1825)

                  2.  U.S. Commercial Agent = John Coffin Jones (1821)

                           -- also agent for Marshall & Wildes

         E.  Chiefly debt (after 1819)

                  1.  promissory notes for sandalwood

                           a) picul = 133 & 1/3 pounds (worth $10.00)

                           b) $230,000 in 1822; est. $160,000 in 1826

                  2.  visiting American warships

                           a) Jan. 1826 -- U.S.S. Dolphin (John "Mad Jack" Percival)

                           b) Dec. 1826 -- U.S.S. Peacock

                                    ==> first tax on commoners (Dec. 1826)

                  3.  Boki's Troubles

                           a) conflict with Ka'ahumanu

                                    -- kahu to Kauikeaouli

                                    -- protected French Catholic priests

                           b) 1829 -- U.S.S. Vincennes

                           c) fatal trip to Erromanga, New Hebrides (1829)

III.  Missionaries vs. Merchants

         A.  Opposing views

         B.  Incidents of clash

                  1.  Daniel (William Buckle) in Lahaina (1825)

                  2.  John Palmer (Elisha Clarke) in Lahaina (1827)

                  3.  Capt. William Buckle vs. Rev. William Richards (1827)

                  4.  Kuakini & Big Ben's "Sunday Storms" (1831)

IV.  Missionary Influence Weakens

         A.  Ka'ahumanu dies (June 5, 1832)

         B.  Kauikeaouli = "monarch of misrule" (1832-1835)

                  1.  influenced by Boki & Charlton

                  2.  Hulumanus & Kaomi

                  3.  royal sexual privileges

                           a) Kīna'u

                           b) Nāhi'ena'ena (d. 1836)

         C.  July 9, 1839 -- French ship L'Artemise (C.P.T. Laplace)

                  1.  threaten to bombard Honolulu

                  2.  demand freedom for Catholics

                  3.  treaty of "commerce & friendship"

                           a) French merchandise

                           b) French consul & trials

         D.  Hiram Bingham leaves in 1840

 

 

 

Think/Write Question

Do you think the Hawaiian people of the 1820s and 1830s were exploited by foreigners? What part did the Hawaiians play in the moral struggles of that time period?