It received diplomatic recognition from the United Kingdom, which shortly thereafter proclaimed the foundation of the Colony of New Zealand upon the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Busby had been sent to New Zealand in 1833 by the Colonial Office to serve as the official British Resident, and was anxious to set up a framework for trade between Māori and Europeans.

[citation needed] From a New Zealand standpoint under the settler government, the Confederation has been considered to have been assimilated into a new entity after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi; the Declaration is viewed in large part as merely a historical document.

[4] In 1840 the New Zealand Company raised the flag of the United Tribes at their settlement in Port Nicholson (Wellington),[5] proclaiming government by "colonial council" that claimed to derive its powers from authority granted by local chiefs.

[7] He then despatched his Colonial Secretary, Willoughby Shortland, with 30 soldiers and six mounted police on 30 June 1840,[5] to Port Nicholson to tear down the flag.

[13][14][15] Tribunal manager Julie Tangaere said at the report's release to the Ngapuhi claimants: "Your tupuna [ancestors] did not give away their mana at Waitangi, at Waimate, at Mangungu.

On 20 March 1834, the three designs were put to 25 northern Maori chiefs at Waitangi by Busby and Captain Lambert of the man-of-war HMS Alligator.