Lot Ascends the Throne

Older brother to Kamehameha IV, Lot Kapuaiwa ascended to the throne as Kamehameha V at age 33. Having served under his brother as Minister of Interior and Minister of Finance, he came to the throne better prepared from an administrative standpoint than any previous king. In addition to his first trip abroad, he traveled to California and British Columbia in 1850. He promoted the cattle industry in Hawai'i, served as president of the graziers' association, and founded Moloka'i Ranch.

Kamehameha V ruled over a kingdom with declining revenues. Both he and his advisors viewed sugar as a likely source of income to bolster the government's finances. Kamehameha V also viewed sugar growing as a way to increase his own personal income. He saw yet another advantage in this enterprise; he strongly believed in the value of work and believed that plantation labor would benefit his Hawaiian subjects. As a result, in 1864 he joined with his court physician Ferdinand W. Hutchison and Rose Ranch owner James Makee in the formation of the West Maui Sugar Association, also called the West Maui Sugar Company.

The West Maui Sugar Association planted sugar on parcels of land in Olowalu and Ukumehame he leased to the company. The parcels belonged to him personally, granted to him as crown lands in the Great Mahele. Crown lands usually were not prime taro-growing sections but kula, or dry fields, more suited to the growing of sugar. The struggling Olowalu venture received a major blow when Kamehameha V died in 1872. Two years later, the West Maui Sugar Association went out of business.

As king, Kamehameha V took steps to strengthen the executive branch of government, writing a new constitution in 1864 that freed the king from the restraints of a privy council and kuhina nui. Wanting to protect the health and well-being of native Hawaiians, he refused to legalize hard liquor and limited activities that would further erode the traditional agricultural lifestyle.

Kamehameha V remained a lifelong bachelor. He named his sister Victoria Kamamalu as his heir, but did not name a replacement when she died in 1866. An hour before his death in 1872, he asked Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, to take the throne but she declined. With no successor named, the constitution dictated an election by legislators to name the next monarch.