It was usually held by a relative of the king and was the rough equivalent of the 19th-century European office of Prime Minister or sometimes Regent.

Before the establishment of the office of Kuhina Nui by Kamehameha, there was a position called Kālaimoku (kālai meaning "to carve" and moku being an island).

In either case, Kamehameha II did not object and the office of Kuhina Nui was created for Kaʻahumanu.

According to other sources, Kamehameha I had wanted Kaʻahumanu to succeed her father Keʻeaumoku Pāpaʻiahiahi as a chief counselor.

While Kamehameha III desired a revival of the old Hawaiian culture, his elder sister Kīnaʻu wanted Hawaiʻi to be a Protestant state which tolerated no other religion.

[citation needed] For the first few years of Kamehameha III’s reign, the kingdom suffered from the frequent quarrels between Kīnaʻu and the king.

When Kamehameha V assumed the throne in 1863, however, the new king made it clear that he favored a more autocratic monarchy over the constitutional one set in place in 1852.