William Ansel Kinney
Encyclopedia
William Ansel Kinney was a lawyer and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii
, through the Republic of Hawaii
and into the Territory of Hawaii
.
.
His father was William Kinney, who was born April 15, 1832 in Chebogue, Nova Scotia
.
His uncle Joseph Robbins Kinney
(1839–1919) was a member of the Canadian House of Commons
.
His father came to the Hawaiian Islands
in the 1850s and married his mother Caroline Dailey (died March 25, 1897) on July 6, 1857.
His father then married up to three different native Hawaiian women, having many other children by them.
For example, half-brother William Kihapiilani Kinney (1868–1953) married Mary Francesca Vierra, and their son Ernest Kaipoleimanu Kinney (1906–1987) married Esther Kauikeaulani Kaulili and had daughter Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson, who became a Hawaiian historian.
The youngest half-sibling was Ray Kinney
, born in Hilo September 26, 1900, who became a popular musician and composer. His father managed the sugar plantation at Honomu, Hawaii and died June 3, 1915.
1874–1877 and worked as a clerk in a law office. He graduated from law school at the University of Michigan
in 1883.
He married Alice Vaughan McBryde on August 16, 1893 in Honolulu.
His first law partner was Arthur P. Peterson. In 1887 he became partners with William Owen Smith
and Lorrin A. Thurston
.
In 1887 he was elected to the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom
as a representative from Hawaii island
.
During the summer of 1887, he helped draft the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii
, called the "Bayonet Constitution" because King Kalākaua
was forced to sign it. The government headed by Walter M. Gibson
was forced to resign and was replaced by one including Thurston in the cabinet.
He moved to Salt Lake City, Utah
about 1891 and practiced law there. After the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he was met by some of his former partners, including Thurston, as they visited the United States
to lobby for annexation in February.
After Queen Liliuokalani was arrested in January 1895 following the failed 1895 rebellion
against the Republic of Hawaii
, Kinney was selected as Judge Advocate (with honorary rank of Captain) to prosecute her in a military trial in her former throne room at Iolani Palace. She was convicted of misprision of treason
.
On March 7 he traveled to San Francisco to press charges against the people accused of shipping arms to the rebels.
On May 5, 1897 he was selected for another commission to lobby for annexation to the US. He traveled to Washington, DC and in reply to the Queen's protest was quoted with a comment that might sound racist by modern standards regarding native Hawaiians and Chinese and Japanese interests:
This time US Secretary of State John Sherman
signed a treaty with Kinney, Thurston, and New Hampshire
lawyer Francis March Hatch on June 16, 1897. The Treaty of Annexation was unanimously adopted by the Senate of the Republic of Hawaii on September 9, 1897. The U.S. Senate passed it by vote of 42-21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed it by vote of 209-91, and President William McKinley signed it on July 7th, 1898.
On his return, he heard that physician Jared Knapp Smith, brother of his former law partner who was then attorney general, had been killed on September 24, 1897. It was suspected to be in retaliation for ordering patients suspected of leprosy
to exile in Kalaupapa, which had ignited the Leper War on Kaua'i
four years earlier. Kinney sailed to Kauai
island and was appointed special prosecutor. A native Hawaiian suspect Kapea was arrested, tried on November 13, 1897, found guilty of first degree murder, and hanged on April 11, 1898.
In August 1900 he sued a newspaper editor for libel.
In May 1901 he was sentenced to prison for contempt of court, but pardoned by Sanford B. Dole
.
His partnership was then called "Kinney, McClanahan & Cooper", including Henry Ernest Cooper who had chaired the Committee of Safety
in 1893 and E. B. McClanahan. At least one of their cases, "Territory of Hawaii vs. Cotton Brothers & Company" of 1904 went to the United States Supreme Court. By 1906 the firm replaced Cooper with S. H. Derby. In June 1909 he represented the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
in a conflict during a strike by Japanese workers.
Despite his role in her trial, on November 1909 Kinney served as an attorney for deposed Queen Liliuokalani in a United States Court of Claims
case "Liliuokalani v. The United States". His partners are listed as Sidney Miller Ballou and Anderson. The case claimed that the Queen was due compensation for the taking of the crown land
s of the kingdom. In the decision known as 45 Ct. Cl. 418 (1910), the case was dismissed on May 16, 1910. The issue continues to be controversial, known as the ceded lands
issue. Kinney's grand-niece Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson filed a similar case 80 years later which was also dismissed on appeal.
Kinney grew disenchanted with the territorial government. Instead of the labor reform he had hoped for, he considered the sugar plantation owners, known as the "Big Five
", an oligopoly
which continued to exploit cheap workers. By 1912 he joined with congressional delegate Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole
in public opposition to appointed Territorial Governor
Walter F. Frear
.
Kūhiō was the only territorial-wide elected official, although with no direct power. Earlier a firmly conservative Republican, Kinney switched to the Democratic Party of Hawaii
. When Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
was elected in 1912, Kinney lobbied for a strong reformer to be swiftly appointed as governor. Kinney was attacked in the Hawaii press (controlled by Republicans), and characterized as proposing a carpetbagger
for governor. Frear said "Mr. Kinney would do better if he stayed here and worked for the best interests of the Territory, instead of going to Washington and complaining." Although the local party supported Lincoln Loy McCandless
, it was not until November 1913 that Wilson appointed Lucius E. Pinkham
. Pinkham had not lived in Hawaii and but had represented plantation owners and other industrialists earlier.
By the end of 1913 he was living in California
, where he filed suit against Alexander & Baldwin
, one of the Big Five who were agents for his in-laws' McBryde sugar plantation.
In 1928 Kinney sued Utah Senator Reed Smoot
and Mormon
leader Heber Grant, accusing them of trying to prevent his book from being published.
He died sometime after 1930 in California.
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
, through the Republic of Hawaii
Republic of Hawaii
The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands...
and into the Territory of Hawaii
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
.
Family
William Ansel Kinney was born October 16, 1860 in Honolulu, HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
His father was William Kinney, who was born April 15, 1832 in Chebogue, Nova Scotia
Chebogue, Nova Scotia
Chebogue is a small fishing village located in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. Farming and fishing are the two main resources in the area.-History:...
.
His uncle Joseph Robbins Kinney
Joseph Robbins Kinney
Joseph Robbins Kinney was a merchant, notary public and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented the Yarmouth district in the Canadian House of Commons from 1882 to 1887 as a Liberal member....
(1839–1919) was a member of the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
.
His father came to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
in the 1850s and married his mother Caroline Dailey (died March 25, 1897) on July 6, 1857.
His father then married up to three different native Hawaiian women, having many other children by them.
For example, half-brother William Kihapiilani Kinney (1868–1953) married Mary Francesca Vierra, and their son Ernest Kaipoleimanu Kinney (1906–1987) married Esther Kauikeaulani Kaulili and had daughter Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson, who became a Hawaiian historian.
The youngest half-sibling was Ray Kinney
Ray Kinney
Ray Kinney was a singer, musician, composer, orchestra leader and performer on radio, stage and screen.-Biography:...
, born in Hilo September 26, 1900, who became a popular musician and composer. His father managed the sugar plantation at Honomu, Hawaii and died June 3, 1915.
Law career
Kinney attended Punahou SchoolPunahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
1874–1877 and worked as a clerk in a law office. He graduated from law school at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1883.
He married Alice Vaughan McBryde on August 16, 1893 in Honolulu.
His first law partner was Arthur P. Peterson. In 1887 he became partners with William Owen Smith
William Owen Smith
William Owen Smith was a lawyer from a family of American missionaries who participated in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He served as attorney general for the entire duration of the provisional Government of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii.-Life:Smith was born August 4, 1848 in Kōloa...
and Lorrin A. Thurston
Lorrin A. Thurston
Lorrin Andrews Thurston was a lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. The grandson of two of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaii, Thurston played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Queen Liliuokalani with the...
.
In 1887 he was elected to the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom
Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom
The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom was the bicameral legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii. A royal legislature was first provided by the 1840 Constitution and the 1852 Constitution was the first to use the term "Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom", and the first to subject the monarch to...
as a representative from Hawaii island
Hawaii (island)
The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...
.
During the summer of 1887, he helped draft the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii
1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii
The 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii was a legal document by anti-monarchists to strip the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, initiating a transfer of power to American, European and native Hawaiian elites...
, called the "Bayonet Constitution" because King Kalākaua
Kalakaua
Kalākaua, born David Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua and sometimes called The Merrie Monarch , was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawaii...
was forced to sign it. The government headed by Walter M. Gibson
Walter M. Gibson
Walter Murray Gibson was an American adventurer and a government minister in the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to the kingdom's 1887 constitution.-Life:...
was forced to resign and was replaced by one including Thurston in the cabinet.
He moved to Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
about 1891 and practiced law there. After the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he was met by some of his former partners, including Thurston, as they visited the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to lobby for annexation in February.
After Queen Liliuokalani was arrested in January 1895 following the failed 1895 rebellion
1895 Counter-Revolution in Hawaii
The 1895 Counter-revolution in Hawaii was a brief war from January 6 to January 9, 1895, that consisted of three battles on the island of Oahu, Hawaii...
against the Republic of Hawaii
Republic of Hawaii
The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands...
, Kinney was selected as Judge Advocate (with honorary rank of Captain) to prosecute her in a military trial in her former throne room at Iolani Palace. She was convicted of misprision of treason
Misprision of treason
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority...
.
On March 7 he traveled to San Francisco to press charges against the people accused of shipping arms to the rebels.
On May 5, 1897 he was selected for another commission to lobby for annexation to the US. He traveled to Washington, DC and in reply to the Queen's protest was quoted with a comment that might sound racist by modern standards regarding native Hawaiians and Chinese and Japanese interests:
Their future is one of two things, to pass under Asiatic or Anglo-Saxon control. If Asiatics dominate, the native must become a coolie, for certainly he cannot expect to be better off than the rank and file of the dominant race....It is a choice between the status of a white American laborer and that of an Asiatic coolie laborer. The white race, if Asiatics absorb Hawaii, can get out to their own country.
This time US Secretary of State John Sherman
John Sherman (politician)
John Sherman, nicknamed "The Ohio Icicle" , was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Ohio during the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. He served as both Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State and was the principal author of the Sherman Antitrust Act...
signed a treaty with Kinney, Thurston, and New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
lawyer Francis March Hatch on June 16, 1897. The Treaty of Annexation was unanimously adopted by the Senate of the Republic of Hawaii on September 9, 1897. The U.S. Senate passed it by vote of 42-21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed it by vote of 209-91, and President William McKinley signed it on July 7th, 1898.
On his return, he heard that physician Jared Knapp Smith, brother of his former law partner who was then attorney general, had been killed on September 24, 1897. It was suspected to be in retaliation for ordering patients suspected of leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
to exile in Kalaupapa, which had ignited the Leper War on Kaua'i
Leper War on Kaua'i
The Leper War on Kauai also known as the Koolau Rebellion, Battle of Kalalau or the short name, the Leper War. Following the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the stricter government enforced the 1865 "Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy" carried out by Attorney General and President of the...
four years earlier. Kinney sailed to Kauai
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
island and was appointed special prosecutor. A native Hawaiian suspect Kapea was arrested, tried on November 13, 1897, found guilty of first degree murder, and hanged on April 11, 1898.
In August 1900 he sued a newspaper editor for libel.
In May 1901 he was sentenced to prison for contempt of court, but pardoned by Sanford B. Dole
Sanford B. Dole
Sanford Ballard Dole was a lawyer and jurist in the Hawaiian Islands as a kingdom, protectorate, republic and territory...
.
His partnership was then called "Kinney, McClanahan & Cooper", including Henry Ernest Cooper who had chaired the Committee of Safety
Committee of Safety (Hawaii)
The Committee of Safety, formally the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, was a 13-member group of the Hawaiian League also known as the Annexation Club...
in 1893 and E. B. McClanahan. At least one of their cases, "Territory of Hawaii vs. Cotton Brothers & Company" of 1904 went to the United States Supreme Court. By 1906 the firm replaced Cooper with S. H. Derby. In June 1909 he represented the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association was an unincorporated, voluntary organization of sugar plantation owners in the Hawaiian Islands. Its objective was to promote the mutual benefits of its members and the development of the sugar industry in the islands. It conducted...
in a conflict during a strike by Japanese workers.
Despite his role in her trial, on November 1909 Kinney served as an attorney for deposed Queen Liliuokalani in a United States Court of Claims
United States Court of Claims
The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855 as the Court of Claims, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims , and abolished in 1982....
case "Liliuokalani v. The United States". His partners are listed as Sidney Miller Ballou and Anderson. The case claimed that the Queen was due compensation for the taking of the crown land
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
s of the kingdom. In the decision known as 45 Ct. Cl. 418 (1910), the case was dismissed on May 16, 1910. The issue continues to be controversial, known as the ceded lands
Ceded lands
In Hawaii, the term "ceded lands" refers to 1.8 million acres of land that were the crown lands of the Hawaiian monarchy prior to January 17, 1893, lotted out by Kamehameha III during the Great Mahele. On this date, the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown by anti-monarchial...
issue. Kinney's grand-niece Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson filed a similar case 80 years later which was also dismissed on appeal.
Kinney grew disenchanted with the territorial government. Instead of the labor reform he had hoped for, he considered the sugar plantation owners, known as the "Big Five
Big Five (Hawaii)
The Big Five was the name given to a group of what started as sugarcane processing corporations that wielded considerable political power in the Territory of Hawaii during the early 20th century and leaned heavily towards the Hawaii Republican Party. The Big Five were Castle & Cooke, Alexander &...
", an oligopoly
Oligopoly
An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers . The word is derived, by analogy with "monopoly", from the Greek ὀλίγοι "few" + πόλειν "to sell". Because there are few sellers, each oligopolist is likely to be aware of the actions of the others...
which continued to exploit cheap workers. By 1912 he joined with congressional delegate Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole
Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole
Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole Piikoi was a prince of the reigning House of Kalākaua when the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by international businessmen in 1893...
in public opposition to appointed Territorial Governor
Governor of Hawaii
The Governor of Hawaii is the chief executive of the state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state...
Walter F. Frear
Walter F. Frear
Walter Francis Frear was a lawyer and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii and Republic of Hawaii, and the third Territorial Governor of Hawaii from 1907 to 1913.-Life:...
.
Kūhiō was the only territorial-wide elected official, although with no direct power. Earlier a firmly conservative Republican, Kinney switched to the Democratic Party of Hawaii
Democratic Party of Hawaii
The Democratic Party of Hawaii is an arm of the Democratic Party of the United States based in Honolulu, Hawaii. The party is a centralized organization established to promote the party platform as drafted in convention biennially...
. When Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
was elected in 1912, Kinney lobbied for a strong reformer to be swiftly appointed as governor. Kinney was attacked in the Hawaii press (controlled by Republicans), and characterized as proposing a carpetbagger
Carpetbagger
Carpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....
for governor. Frear said "Mr. Kinney would do better if he stayed here and worked for the best interests of the Territory, instead of going to Washington and complaining." Although the local party supported Lincoln Loy McCandless
Lincoln Loy McCandless
Lincoln “Link” Loy McCandless was an American cattle rancher, industrialist and politician from Hawaii. McCandless served in the United States Congress as a territorial delegate...
, it was not until November 1913 that Wilson appointed Lucius E. Pinkham
Lucius E. Pinkham
Lucius Eugene Pinkham was the fourth Territorial Governor of Hawaii, serving from 1913 to 1918. Pinkham was the first member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii to become governor.-Life:...
. Pinkham had not lived in Hawaii and but had represented plantation owners and other industrialists earlier.
By the end of 1913 he was living in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he filed suit against Alexander & Baldwin
Alexander & Baldwin
Following World War II, the company entered a new business: land development and real estate. The company formed a new subsidiary, the Kahului Development Co., to develop housing in the Kahului area. In the following years, the company became more involved in the development of its land and the...
, one of the Big Five who were agents for his in-laws' McBryde sugar plantation.
In 1928 Kinney sued Utah Senator Reed Smoot
Reed Smoot
Reed Owen Smoot was a native-born Utahn who was first elected to the United States Senate from Utah in 1903, and served as a Senator until 1933...
and Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
leader Heber Grant, accusing them of trying to prevent his book from being published.
He died sometime after 1930 in California.