page_title: 1892 Legislative Session of the Hawaiian Kingdom
section_title: Legislative Session
hierarchical_section_title: 1892 Legislative Session of the Hawaiian Kingdom / Legislative Session
caption_attribution_description: English: Queen Liliuokalani leaving Aliiolani Hale in 1893.
context_page_description: The 1892 Session of the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Longest Legislature, was a period from May 28, 1892, to January 14, 1893, in which the legislative assembly of the Hawaiian Kingdom met for its traditional bi-annual session. This unicameral body was composed of the upper House of Nobles and the lower House of Representatives. This would be the first session during the reign of Queen Liliʻuokalani and the last meeting of the legislative assembly during the Hawaiian monarchy. Three days after the prorogation of the assembly, many of the political tension developed during the legislative debates and the queen's attempt to promulgate a new constitution while her legislators were not in session led to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893.
  Members of this legislative session included citizens and subjects of the kingdom of either full or mixed Native Hawaiian, Euro-American and Asian descent, who were divided across different party lines.
context_section_description: From May 28, 1892, to January 14, 1893, the legislature of the Kingdom convened for an unprecedented 171 days, which later historians such as Albertine Loomis and Helena G. Allen dubbed the "Longest Legislature". This would be the first session during the reign of Queen Liliʻuokalani and the last meeting of the legislative assembly during the Hawaiian monarchy.
  At the opening of the legislature, forty-eight elected politicians, consisting of twenty-four nobles (including thirteen holdovers continued their terms from the 1890 legislature) and twenty-four representatives from the four main Hawaiian Islands met at the legislative halls of Aliʻiōlani Hale in Honolulu. The legislature met as a unicameral body composed of the upper House of Nobles and the lower House of Representatives with Noble John Smith Walker presiding as President of the Legislative Assembly and Noble John Kauhane as Vice-President. The body included politicians of Native Hawaiian descent, Euro-American descent, mixed Hawaiian and Euro-American descent, and even three members of Chinese-Hawaiian descent. The appointed cabinet ministers also had the right to participate as ex-officio members of the legislature with the right to vote on all matters except on votes for their removal. In the course of the session, five members would resign and three new members chosen in special elections to replace with two of the five members reclaiming their vacated seats.
  This session was dominated by political infighting within and between and the different parties. Debates heard on the floor of the houses concerned the popular demand for a new constitution, the passage of a lottery bill and an opium licensing bill, aimed at alleviating the economic crisis caused by the McKinley Tariff. By the end of the session, the queen had also signed into law the lottery bill and opium licensing bill, which were extremely controversial in the foreign community and especially with the leaders of the Reform Party.
  Petitions asking for a new constitution were submitted by seven legislators: Noble David William Pua and Representatives Joseph Nāwahī, William Pūnohu White, Jose Kekahuna Iosepa, Anakalea Kauhi, T. S. Nahinu, Luther W. P. Kanealii and George Panila Kamauoha. Attempts were made to call a constitutional convention to draft a new constitution in both the 1890 session and the 1892 session. Both National Liberals and National Reformers campaigned on the promise of a new constitution, however many National Reformers supported a middle path and advocated for changes via amendments. The conservative Reformers would not tolerate any changes to the existing constitution. There was also disagreement on the legality of how to execute the change. No clear comparable precedents existed, since previous constitutions had been promulgated by the sovereign.
  The main issue of contention between the new monarch and the legislators was the retention of her cabinet ministers; political division prevented Liliʻuokalani from appointing a balanced council. The 1887 constitution retained the monarch's right to appoint her own cabinet minister but gave the legislature the power to vote for the dismissal of her cabinet. 
  Seven resolutions of want of confidence were introduced during this session, and four of her self-appointed cabinets (the Widemann, Macfarlane, Cornwell, and  Wilcox cabinets) were ousted by votes of the legislature.
  On January 13, 1893, after the legislature dismissed the Wilcox cabinet (which had political sympathies to the Reform Party), Liliʻuokalani appointed the new Parker cabinet, which had ties to the National Reform Party and consisted of Samuel Parker, as minister of foreign affairs; John F. Colburn, as minister of the interior; William H. Cornwell, as minister of finance; and Arthur P. Peterson, as attorney general.
  The legislative assembly was prorogued January 14, at a noon ceremony officiated by the queen at Aliʻiōlani Hale, which was situated across the street from ʻIolani Palace.
caption: Queen Liliʻuokalani leaving Aliiolani Hale following the prorogation ceremony, 1893
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