The Independent Party ( Hawaiian: ''Kūʻokoʻa'') was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the Kingdom of Hawaii formed with the purpose of providing resources and benefits of a political party to

independent politicians An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

Emmaites

Despite the original purpose of the Kuokoa Party former member of the Queen Emma Party joined as their party declined and, following the elections of 1882, disbanded. Some of these former Emmaites were George W. Pilipō, Joseph K. Nawahi, and Albert K. Kunuiakea.

Missionaries

The

Missionary Party The Reform Party, also referred to as "the Missionary Party", or the "Down-Town Party", was a political party in the Kingdom of Hawaii. It was founded by descendants of Protestant missionaries that came to Hawaii from New England. Following the Ann ...

was a pro-American, pro-business party who developed an unpopular reputation as rich,

White American White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...

businessmen. In 1880 and 1882 some Missionaries ran as Kuokoa Party candidates to distance themselves from the stigma of their own party. Interested by this strategy the Missionary Party ran all their candidates as Independents in the elections of 1884 and 1886. A special Missionary group called the

Committee of Nine The Committee of Nine was a group of conservative political leaders in Virginia, led by Alexander H. H. Stuart, following the American Civil War, when Virginia was required to adopt a new Constitution acknowledging the abolition of slavery before i ...

was established to occupy the leadership positions of the Kuokoa Party and favor the Missionary candidates.

Two party system

In 1884 a

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...

emerged in Hawaii with the consolidation of opposition to the National Party. The general ideology of the Kuokoa Party was, basically, positions other than that of the ruling National Party for the various reasons of individual Independents. Such an example was opposition to King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ...

, the range of opposition varied from preferring Queen Emma on the throne, abolishing the monarchy and forming a republic, to annexing Hawaii to the United States.

Bayonet Constitution

Disappointed with the results of the 1886 elections the Missionaries forced the

Bayonet Constitution The 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a legal document prepared by anti-monarchists to strip the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, initiating a transfer of power to American, European and native Hawaiian elites. It became k ...

on the government. The new Constitution slanted elections in the favor of the Missionaries and they departed the Kuokoa party. In the elections of 1887, the Missionary Party renamed themselves the Reform Party and ran candidates as their own party.

Native Sons

The departure of the Missionaries left a vacuum in the Kuokoa Party that was eventually filled by the Native Sons of Hawaii. The Native Sons was a pro-monarchy, Pro-Hawaiians political organization that supported the

National Reform Party National Reform or National Reformation may refer to: * National Reform Association (1844), a nineteenth-century American movement to lobby Congress to pass land reforms *National Reform Association (1864), a nineteenth-century American movement to ...

. The Kuokoa Party reflected the positions of the Native Sons and became a secondary party for districts without a National Reform candidates.

References

* {{HawaiiPoliticalParties

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Political parties established in 1884 1884 establishments in Hawaii