Home Rule Party of Hawaii

[1] On June 6, 1900, Robert Wilcox, returned to Hawaii from the mainland U.S., which he had visited in order to advocate for the inclusion native Hawaiian rights in the Organic Act.

On the floor of the United States House of Representatives, Wilcox was challenged by his poor command of the English language, and his lack of alignment with either of the main parties (Democrat and Republican).

Although upon his election, he took a more moderate tone, the Home Rule Party proved to be obstructionist and was blamed for a distinct lack of progress in the Territorial legislature.

The Home Rule Party controlled Territorial Legislature of 1901 has been negatively cast as an ineffective and chaotic in the historical narrative of Hawaii, although recent scholarship have painted a different picture.

They attempted to pass new laws in the interest of the local people, who included Hawaiian taro farmers, patients of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement and victims of the 1900 Chinatown fire, among others.

In this session, the Home Rulers attempted to decentralize control away from the governor and empower local government by passing a bill creating the first counties in Hawaii.

This nickname was used by opponents of the Home Rulers to denigrate the group and the difficulties of the 1901 legislature would later be used as evidence of the incompetence of Native Hawaiian political leadership.

For example, Maui politician William Pūnohu White ran unsuccessfully in every election between 1902 and 1914 to regain the senate seat after his brief stint in the first Territorial legislature.