Chapter 12

Question 1

When was the law to preserve the Crown Lands passed?

Answer 1

1865

Question 2

How much privately held land belonged to Westerners or their corporations in 1893?

Answer 2

Three out of every four acres

Question 3

What was the Kuleana Act of 1850 supposed to do?

Answer 3

Provide maka’āinana with fee simple title, or outright ownership, or their own land.

Question 4

Did the Kuleana Act of 1850 accomplish what it was supposed to do?

Answer 4

No. Very few maka’āinana received land commission awards and even those who did lost their land for a number of reasons.

Question 5

What did maka’āinana have to do to own kuleana land?

Answer 5

1. File a claim with Land Commission (some were unable to pay the fee to file or fill out the form properly)
2. Attend a hearing (often far away)
3. Find a witness who would testify on their behalf that the land they made a claim for was actually their land (sometimes greed, fear, or hostility kept Native Hawaiians from supporting each other and sometimes konohiki would threaten/intimidate them into signing the land over)

Question 6

How could you loose land even if you successfully got the grant for kuleana land?

Answer 6

They had to pay taxes to the government which some could not afford

Question 7

What would happen if you were not able to pay off taxes on your land?

Answer 7

It would be sold to those who could pay taxes

Question 8

How did Native Hawaiians loose their land through adverse possession?

Answer 8

After 10 years of non-use of the land, the neighboring landowner could claim the land

Question 9

Why would some Native Hawaiians abandon their land?

Answer 9

Large tacts of kula land had been sold to foreigners and Native Hawaiians often found their small kuleana land surrounded by large parcels of kula lands, where the new owners would cut of waterways or changed the topography of the land for their own personal use

Question 10

How much of Hawai’i’s land was designated for the government during the Great Māhele?

Answer 10

1.5 million acres or 37%

Question 11

Between 1848 and 1893 how many acres of land was sold to sugar plantations?

Answer 11

Over 600,000 acres

Question 12

How much did land cost?

Answer 12

An average of $1.11 an acre, the equivalent of 20 bags of rice

Question 13

How much did one bag of rice cost in 1890?

Answer 13

5 cents

Question 14

How many acres was the Crown lands?

Answer 14

Nearly a million acres or 24% of all land in the kingdom

Question 15

Why didn’t people know what to do with Alexander Liholiho’s land when her died?

Answer 15

He did without a will

Question 15

What did Queen Emma argue to who Alexander Liholiho’s land should go to?

Answer 15

She argued that the land should go to her because she was the heir

Question 15

What did other’s argue about who Alexander Liholiho’s land should go to?

Answer 15

They said it should go to the next reigning monarch, Lot Kapūaiwa.

Question 16

What did the Supreme Court decided about Alexander Liholiho’s land?

Answer 16

They ruled that the Crown lands belonged not to the person of the kind, but to the Crown, that is, to the office of the king. The Crown lands were inalienable from the office of the king.

Question 17

What law did the Supreme Court pass about the Crown Lands?

Answer 17

“Crown Lands shall remain inalienable and shall descend to heirs and successors of the Hawaiian throne forever”

Question 18

What did the provisional government do in 1893 to the Crown Lands?

Answer 18

They confiscated them for the government

Question 19

When was the Organic Act passed?

Answer 19

1900

Question 20

What did the U.S. do when the Organic Act was passed?

Answer 20

They took control of some of the ceded land and used them for military bases and parks. The remainder of the land was turned over the to Territory of Hawai’i to manage.

Question 21

What happened to most of the land in 1959?

Answer 21

Most of the lands were transferred to the state of Hawai’i although 400,000 acres stayed in possession of the U.S.

Question 22

How much of Hawai’i’s land does the federal government and state of Hawai’i own?

Answer 22

40% of Hawai’i’s land

Question 23

How many people owned land by the end of the nineteenth century?

Answer 23

Out of a population of nearly 90,000, fewer then 5,000 owned land

Question 24

How much land did Westeners own by the end of the nineteenth century?

Answer 24

Over a million acres; three out of every four acres of Hawai’i’s land

Question 25

What happened to Hawai’i’s land as a result of the Great Māhele?

Answer 25

Huge tracts of government and Crown lands had been leased or sold and the provisional government seized the remaining Crown Lands after the overthrow.