William Pūnohu White

William Pūnohuʻāweoweoʻulaokalani White (; August 6, 1851 – November 2, 1925) was a Hawaiian lawyer, sheriff, politician, and newspaper editor. He became a political statesman and orator during the final years of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the beginnings of the Territory of Hawaii. Despite being a leading Native Hawaiian politician in this era, his legacy has been largely forgotten or portrayed in a negative light, mainly because of a reliance on English-language sources to write Hawaiian history. He was known by the nickname of "Pila Aila" or "Bila Aila" (translated as Oily Bill) for his oratory skills.

Born in Lahaina, Maui, of mixed Native Hawaiian and English descent, White was descended from Kaiakea, a legendary orator for King Kamehameha I. Representing Lahaina in the legislative assemblies of 1890 and 1892, he became a political leader for the Liberal faction in the government and established himself as a leader in the opposition to the unpopular Bayonet Constitution of 1887. Throughout the terms of both legislatures, White led attempts to pass bills calling for a constitutional convention. He was criticized by the missionary Reform Party for his support of the controversial lottery and opium bills. He and Joseph Nāwahī co-authored the proposed 1893 Constitution with Queen Liliʻuokalani. They were decorated Knight Commanders of the Royal Order of Kalākaua for their service and contribution to the monarchy. When an attempt by the queen to promulgate this constitution failed on January14, 1893, White's opponents falsely alleged he had tried to incite the people to storm ʻIolani Palace and harm the queen and her ministers. White denied these charges and threatened to sue the newspapers. Three days after the attempted promulgation, the queen was deposed in a coup during the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January17, 1893.

During the Provisional Government of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii that followed it, he remained loyal to the monarchy. Returning to Lahaina, he helped organize native resistance on Maui and in 1893, was arrested for running out pro-annexationist pastor Adam Pali at Waineʻe Church. He was elected in 1896 as honorary president of the Hui Aloha ʻĀina (Hawaiian Patriotic League), a patriotic organization established after the overthrow to oppose annexation. In 1897 he became an editor of the short-lived anti-annexationist newspaper Ke Ahailono oHawaii (translated as The Hawaiian Herald) run by members of the Hui Kālaiʻāina (Hawaiian Political Association). Following the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, he was elected as a senator of the first Hawaiian Territorial legislature of 1901 for the Home Rule Party. Afterward, his political fortune declined with the party and his many attempts to win re-elections from 1902 to 1914 ended in defeats, although he was elected the first sheriff of Maui County for a brief period before his election was declared void due to inconsistencies in the 1903 County Act.

Early life and family White was born on August 6, 1851, at Lahaina, on the island of Maui, to John Kahue White Jr. and his wife Kahalelana. His paternal grandparents were John White Sr. and Keawe. He was of Native Hawaiian and English descent, thus known as a hapa-haole in Hawaiian and as a "half-caste" in the English press. He was living with his son-in-law, Maui sugar planter Linton L. Torbert (William's uncle), around the time of his death.

A view of the port city of Lahaina, Maui, during William White's childhood. Engraving by Edward T. Perkins, 1854. From his paternal grandmother Keawe, he was descended from Kaiʻākea, his great-grandfather and an aliʻi (high chief) of Molokaʻi, who served as a political counselor, orator and many other different positions during the reign of the first Hawaiian king KamehamehaI.

During the 1860s, White was educated at the Luaʻehu School, the Anglican mission boarding school run by Archdeacon George Mason in Lahaina. Founded by Anglican Rev. William R. Scott in 1863, this institution was a precursor of the present-day ʻIolani School in Honolulu. White was educated with Curtis P. Iaukea, Samuel Nowlein, Robert Hoapili Baker, and other future Hawaiian leaders.

White married the Chinese-Hawaiian Esther or Ester Apuna Akina (1855–1943), sister of fellow statesman Joseph Apukai Akina and sister in-law to Samuel K. Aki, a member of Hui Aloha ʻĀina. They had five known children including Ellen Kananihemolele White (1875–1942), wife of politician David Kalei Kahāʻulelio, and Samuel Tensung Leialoha White (1886–1962), who became an assistant city engineer for Honolulu. They adopted Esther's cousin, Chung Moy, who later became known as Nellie Rose White.

Political career during the monarchy During the early 1880s, White worked as a police officer in Kohala, on the island of Hawaii. According to later opinions, he "made the reputation of being a good officer". It was in this capacity that he first came into the political arena. In the general election of 1884 he was nominated as one of the many National (Governmental) Party members and ran for a seat in the Hawaiian legislative session of 1884, as a representative from Kohala. He received no votes in this election. Godfrey Brown (an Independent) defeated National Party member George Panila Kāmauʻoha, a colleague of White's in the Kohala police force at the time and also later a member of the 1892 legislature.

In April 1884, Kāmauʻoha was removed from his position for malfeasance and White was appointed his successor as deputy sheriff of North Kohala. Prior to this, the police department of Kohala had gained a reputation for corruption. After his appointment, the new deputy sheriff became popular in the community for his competency, "strict attention to his duties, as well as his thorough integrity". By 1885, White had moved to Hilo where he had begun practicing law.

He became an agent to take acknowledgements to instruments on September12, 1884. On January 1, 1886, he was listed as one of the speakers at a political rally at Halawa. He later became a member of the Hui Kālaiʻāina (Hawaiian Political Association), a political group founded in 1888 to oppose the Bayonet Constitution and promote Native Hawaiian leadership in the government. By 1890, he had returned to his native island of Maui. In the Hawaiian tradition, his skills as an orator were attributed to the kuleana (responsibility) of his family as descendants of Kaiakea. In his first term, he initially ran as a member of the Reform Party against the National Reform Party candidate J. Nazareta. In 1887, the Reform Party (consisting of many descendants of American missionaries and Hawaiian conservatives) had become the established governmental party following King Kalākaua's coerced signing of the Bayonet Constitution. White was opposed to the constitution, and may have switched allegiance at a later point to the National Reform Party, which was established in opposition to the Reform Party in this session.

In a mass meeting at Palace Square on September 9, 1890, he allied with many other leading National Reform politicians in calling for a constitutional convention to draft a replacement for the constitution. Speeches were made by legislators Joseph Nāwahī of Hilo, John E. Bush, Robert William Wilcox and John K. Kaunamano of Oahu, and Luther W. P Kanealii of Maui, among other speakers. Reportedly, Representative Wilcox told the crowd that "any National Reform Party member of the legislature who voted against the convention bill 'ought to be torn limb from limb. At the end of the meeting, White gave the final speech, which "made all who understood Hawaiian, laugh". However, when the constitution convention bill went up for the vote of the legislature on October 1, it was defeated by a vote of 24 to 16.

White and Bush proposed a bill to the legislature to amend the 1887 constitution to give women the right to vote during this session. The bill did not pass. Had it been made into law, Hawaii would have preceded New Zealand as the first nation to allow women to vote. In 1892, Nāwahī would attempt to pass another bill supporting women's suffrage but it also failed.

The 1890 biannual session commenced on November 14. A few months later, in January 1891, King Kalakaua died while in San Francisco and was succeeded by his sister Queen Liliʻuokalani. White and his wife Ester marched alongside other legislators and their spouses in the funeral procession of the deceased king.

Legislature of 1892–93

White and Joseph Nāwahī (pictured) became leaders of the Hawaiian National Liberal Party. In 1891 White changed his party allegiance, joining the National Liberal Party. He and Wilcox were chosen as the stump orators to travel around the other islands and canvass for the new party. The Liberal Party wanted increased Native Hawaiian participation in the government, as well as a constitutional convention to draft a new constitution to replace the unpopular Bayonet Constitution. However, the party soon became divided between radicals and more conciliatory groups. Joseph Nāwahī and White became the leaders of the factions of the Liberals loyal to the queen against the more radical members such as John E. Bush and Robert William Wilcox, who were advocating for drastic changes such as increased power for the people and a republican form of government. Newspaper accounts noted that, during a meeting of Hui Kālaiʻāina on December 4, 1892, White reportedly said that he had "always abhorred the idea of a republic".

The political fallout of the queen's actions led to citywide political rallies and meetings in Honolulu. Anti-monarchists, annexationists, and leading Reformist politicians including Lorrin A. Thurston formed the Committee of Safety in protest of the "revolutionary" action of the queen and conspired to depose her. In response, royalists and loyalists formed the Committee of Law and Order and met at the palace square on January16. White, Nāwahī, Bush, Wilcox, and Antone Rosa and other pro-monarchist leaders gave speeches in support for the queen and the government. However, in their attempts to be cautious and not provoke the opposition, they adopted a resolution stating that "the Government does not and will not seek any modification of the Constitution by any other means than those provided in the organic law". In this mass meeting, White also gave a speech denying the violent charges printed in the press against him, claiming that "the other fellows, meaning the Reformers, are crying out before they are hurt" (another paraphrasing published in The Daily Bulletin).

Opposition to the overthrow and annexation

These actions and the radicalized political climate eventually led to the overthrow of the monarchy, on January17, 1893, by the Committee of Safety, with the covert support of United States Minister John L. Stevens and the landing of American forces from the USS Boston. After a brief transition under the Provisional Government, the oligarchical Republic of Hawaii was established on July4, 1894, with Sanford B. Dole as president. During this period, the defacto government, which was composed largely of residents of American and European ancestry, sought to annex the islands to the United States against the wishes of the Native Hawaiians who wanted to remain an independent nation ruled by the monarchy.

Resistance on Maui Residents of Maui began circulating petitions protesting the establishment of the Provisional Government in the districts of Wailuku and Makawao. White was still in Honolulu during the events of the coup d'état, and The Hawaiian Gazette reported rumors that he was one of the candidates for a Hawaiian embassy to Washington, DC, to ask for the restoration of the monarchy under the queen's niece Princess Kaʻiulani. Departing Honolulu on February7, he returned to Lahaina on the inter-island steamer Waialeale. White remained a royalist and an agent of the deposed monarch on Maui and wrote "to the Queen and others about covert issues surrounding her possible re-instatement".

In May 1893 he helped organized the native community of Lahaina in removing the pro-annexationist Reverend Adam Pali of Waineʻe Church. Angered by the political stance of their pastor, the native congregation and the trustees of the church voted to remove Pali and asked him to vacate the residence owned by the church by July8. However, these efforts were later undone by the central authority in Honolulu and the Maui Presbytery. During their meeting in June, the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (HEA) ruled against the vote of the native congregation. In July the Maui Presbytery reinstated Pali and excommunicated the members of the congregation, including White, who had voted to remove him. The English press in Honolulu cast White in a negative light, claiming he had proved to be a "negative influence over the simple people of the parish".

Return to Honolulu White became a member of Hui Aloha ʻĀina oNa Kane (Hawaiian Patriotic League for Men), a patriotic group founded shortly after the overthrow of the monarchy to oppose annexation and support the deposed queen. A corresponding female league was also founded. The ranks of the men's group were largely composed of the leading native politicians of the former monarchy, including Nāwahī, who served as its president. A delegation (not including White) was elected by its members to represent the case of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people to the United States Commissioner James Henderson Blount sent by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the overthrow. During this politically uncertain time, White traveled to Honolulu at the end of 1893 on the steamer W.G. Hall upon hearing rumors of the monarchy's restoration and returned to Lahaina in January when he discovered the reports were false. The native resistance, the results of the Blount Report, and President Cleveland's refusal to annex the island stopped the annexationist scheme and prompted the Provisional Government to establish an oligarchical government, styling itself the Republic of Hawaii, until a more favorable political climate emerged in Washington. In April 1894 White and John Richardson gave a speech at Lahaina opposing the new regime and asking the people not to participate in the election of delegates to the constitutional convention in Honolulu. Members of Hui Aloha ʻĀina gave speeches and held meetings across much of the island, and it was reported that foreigners and natives alike in Maui (with the exception of the residents of Hana) were strongly against the attempts to establish a republic.

At the beginning of January 1895, Robert William Wilcox launched a counter-revolution against the forces of the Republic. Its ultimate failure led to the arrest of many sympathizers of Wilcox and the militant efforts to restore the queen, including Liliʻuokalani and Nāwahī, who were arrested for misprision of treason. Nāwahī died in 1896 from tuberculosis complications contracted during his imprisonment. After Nāwahī's death, White and other Hui Aloha ʻĀina delegates from the different island branches congregated in Honolulu for the election of a new leadership council on November28, 1896, coinciding with Lā Kūʻokoʻa (Hawaiian Independence Day). In this meeting in which White presided as chairman, James Keauiluna Kaulia was elected as the new president. Two days later, White was chosen as the honorary president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina, over Edward Kamakau Lilikalani, by a majority of the assembled members. The Hawaiian Star reported, "In accepting the position Mr.White thanked the members for the honor and pledged himself to labor for the best interests of the society. He called upon the delegates to inform their constituents of his election and ask them to give him their cordial aid in his work."

In 1897 White became the editor of Ke Ahailono oHawaii (translated as The Hawaiian Herald), a Hawaiian-language newspaper founded by Hui Kālaiʻāina. After the overthrow, this Hawaiian political group switched its political agenda toward opposing annexation to the United States and restoring Liliʻuokalani. At the conception of Ke Ahailono oHawaii, the English newspaper The Independent noted that "The New venture under the control of Messrs. White and Pua, should indeed be a White Flower of journalism, although the genial 'Sam' could change the euphony by adding another terminal vowel to his name." Weekly issues were published from June4 to October29, 1897. In May 1899 Testa sued White and the four other proprietors of the newspaper including David Kalauokalani (president of Hui Kālaiʻāina) for unpaid printing costs of the short-lived paper. The court ruled in favor of Testa awarding him the amount of $743,40, although White was only required to pay one-fifth of $447.50 because he left the venture when the "troubles" started. The decision was reversed on appeal.

After assuming office in 1897, United States President William McKinley signed the treaty of annexation for the Republic of Hawaii, but it failed to pass in the United States Senate after the Kūʻē Petitions were submitted by Kaulia, Kalauokalani, John Richardson and William Auld as evidence of the strong resistance of the Native Hawaiian community to annexation. Members of Hui Aloha ʻĀina collected over 21,000 signatures opposing an annexation treaty. Another 17,000 signatures were collected by members of Hui Kālaiʻāina but not submitted to the Senate because they were asking for the restoration of the queen and the delegates. The petitions were used as evidence of the strong resistance of the Hawaiian community to annexation and the treaty was defeated in the Senate. After the failure of the treaty, Hawaii was instead annexed by means of a joint resolution called the Newlands Resolution, in July 1898, shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War.

In September 1898 White took an oath of allegiance to the United States and the Republic of Hawaii in order to renew his license to practice law in the inferior courts of the Hawaiian Islands. A few days later on September 12, David Kalauokalani, Robert William Wilcox and other members of Hui Kālaiʻāina held a meeting at the Palace Square. White was slated as a possible speaker at the meeting, in the newspaper The Hawaiian Star printed the morning of September 12, although it is not certain if he attended the meeting later in the evening. Many Hawaiians had accepted annexation was to stay. Despite divided opinions among the Hawaiian leaders, they sent a memorial requesting the restoration of the monarchy and "the old order" to the board of commissioners established to finalize the laws and annexation of the islands to the United States.

Territorial government Following the establishment of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900, White became a member of the Home Rule Party, which was formed by the former leaders of Hui Aloha ʻĀina and Hui Kālaiʻāina. The party consisted of Native Hawaiians who had been leaders during the monarchy and other former royalists and loyalists such as Robert William Wilcox, who was elected the first congressional delegate from Hawaii under the Home Rule ticket. During this period, the party would share the political stage and contend with the Republicans and Democrats.

1901 legislature

There had been speculation since May 1899 that he would be a candidate for office in the new territorial government. In November 1900 election White was elected to the inaugural Territorial legislature, established under the Hawaiian Organic Act, as a senator from the Second District (corresponding to Maui, Molokaʻi. Lānaʻi, and Kahoʻolawe). Historian Ronald William Jr., noted:

Declining political career Home Rule Delegate Robert William Wilcox was defeated by Republican, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole in his bid for re-election. In the next election, for the 1903 legislature, White ran again for senator on the Home Rule ticket. Despite expecting an easy victory, he was defeated by Republican candidate Charles H. Dickey. White accepted the defeat graciously. In this election, White ran as the Home Rule candidate for Sheriff of Maui County and defeated the Republican candidate Lincoln M. Baldwin, who had held the previously appointed position of sheriff. The Home Rule Party ended up dominating in the local elections on Maui. Shortly after his election, White and David Haili Kahaulelio, the elected county clerk for Maui, wrote to Dole's successor, Governor George R. Carter, asking him to assemble a conference where the newly elected county officials across the territory could discuss how the county governments should be conducted.

The county act came into effect on January 4. However, it was soon placed on hold by the Hawaii Supreme Court, awaiting a ruling on its constitutionality. Acting under the instruction of the governor, High Sheriff Arthur M. Brown ordered the former appointed sheriffs to resume their posts from the elected officials. Brown sent a telegraph, on January14, to Sheriff Baldwin ordering him to resume his former position and asking White to vacate his office. They expected some amount of difficulty from White, and Brown considered sending a force from Honolulu under Deputy High Sheriff Charles F. Chillingsworth to quell any possible insurrection. Baldwin assembled men from his former police force and retook the sheriff's office, but White refused to relinquish his position, insisting that he wanted "further advice from the Attorney General as to what he should do". The board of supervisors met and decided that White should hold office until there was an official notification from Honolulu on the matter. Both Baldwin and White agreed to wait. On January16, 1904, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the second county bill as unconstitutional because it ran counter to the Organic Act, effectively voiding the previous local elections. When the official decision was received, White resigned as sheriff. Permanent county governments were finally established by an act of the following legislature of 1905. Opting to run for the lesser position Deputy Sheriff of Lahaina, White lost the county election of June 1905, to the Republican Charles R. Lindsay Jr. by a margin of 112 to 212. Republican William E. Saffery was elected as the sheriff of Maui County. The election resulted in overwhelming Republican victory with only two Home Rule victories in Wailuku for county supervisor and deputy sheriff.

Death and legacy

From 1901 to 1903 White was the proprietor of the Ka Lei Nani Saloon in Lahaina, which was advertised in The Maui News. In later life, he moved from Lahaina to Honolulu in 1907. After an illness of eight months, he died on November2, 1925, at his home at 604Kalihi near North Queen, in Honolulu.

He was buried in an unmarked grave at the Kaʻahumanu Society Cemetery, next to where his widow (a lifelong member of the society) would later be laid to rest. In 2017, historian Ronald William Jr. raised the funds for a marker for White's grave through a GoFundMe campaign. The grave marker was unveiled on August 6, the anniversary of White's birth.

Despite his popularity in the native community, White was portrayed negatively in the English-language press in his lifetime and in the published histories after his death. As a consequence of his opposition to the powers that overthrew the monarchy and later annexed the islands to the United States, White remains obscure in Hawaiian history. Recent research efforts in Hawaiian academia using Hawaiian language sources have shed more light on White and many other early Native Hawaiian resistance leaders like him.

In Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliʻuokalani praised the work of Nāwahī and White:

Honors