The Last of the Kamehamehas: Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V

Kamehameha_IV_(PP-97-8-006)

Kamehameha_V,_retouched_photo_by_J._J._Williams

Both Liholiho and Kamehameha were unhappy with the Constitution of 1852 because it had so many restrictions about what to do and what not to do. The new Constitution of 1864 affected the king by giving him more power, and abolishing Kuhina Nui It affected th people by requiring men to own property in order to vote, and for everyone to be literate in either Hawaiian or English. Kamehameha V thought it was important to be able to read and write because he figured that everything sooner or later would be converted to English. He thought it was important to own property because it was a method of proof for industry and thrift. I do agree with Kamehameha V about owning property because owning some kind of house, in a sense, does make you more industrialized and thrifty with the new innovations that you now have. However, I don't agree with the fact of property ownership being a requirement in order to vote because if you were born here, but are homeless, then you can't vote simply because you're homeless? But you're a United States citizen, and yet, you can't excercise your right to vote because you don't have a house to live in. But, I do agree with the fact of needing to know how to read and write English in order to vote because it is the primary language of the U.S, and we can't make separate ballots for the foreigners and if they don't know English, how could they know anything about the U.S politics anyways?