Changing Hawai'i Forever
After King Kamehameha died in 1819, Queen Ka'ahumanu ruled the Hawaiian islands in his place. One of the laws of Hawai'i would prevent women from doing what men were allowed to. When she decided to eat with the men of her family, native Hawaiians were in disbelief to see their own queen disobeying the rules. Everybody expected their gods to punish her, but when nothing happened the people broke the laws as well. After abandoning their gods because nothing had happened to them, nobody had a faith anymore and their laws disappeared.
When heard that Hawai'i was faithless, members of the Congregational Church of Massachusetts starting making plans to visit the islands and teach christianity to the natives. They began by sending christian missionaries to Hawai'i. These missionaries were hoping to convert the natives into believing in their god. The first missionaries arrived in Hawai'i on April 19, 1820. The leader's name was Reverend Hiram Bingham. They came on a sailing ship named Thaddeus.
Immediately after anchoring, missionaries started teaching Hawaiians about the christian religion. Amazingly, the missionaries were able to translate the christian bible into the Hawaiian language. This was a difficult task because Hawaiian was only a spoken language. Because of this, the missionaries wrote a Hawaiian alphabet and decided that each English letter would represent a sound used in the Hawaiian language. Though unlike the English alphabet, the Hawaiian alphabet has only twelve letters-five vowels and seven consonants.
The missionaries started the first schools to ever be created on the islands. Classrooms were shady trees or shrubs such as palms and pili grass. It didn't take long until many Hawaiians learned to read and write their own language, while successfully learning English. Missionaries wanted to encourage their new understanding of the English language by banning the Hawaiian language during school hours. After banning their own language, they were pushing things too far when missionaries banned the traditional Hawaiian hula dance. They did this because they believed that the hula was a reminder of the Hawaiians' non-Christian religion. Although their sacred dance was banned, many danced in private.
Missionaries successfully helped create the Kingdom of Hawai'i Constitution of 1840.
This Constitution can be read on the following website: http://www.hawaii-nation.org/constitution-1840.html
When heard that Hawai'i was faithless, members of the Congregational Church of Massachusetts starting making plans to visit the islands and teach christianity to the natives. They began by sending christian missionaries to Hawai'i. These missionaries were hoping to convert the natives into believing in their god. The first missionaries arrived in Hawai'i on April 19, 1820. The leader's name was Reverend Hiram Bingham. They came on a sailing ship named Thaddeus.
Immediately after anchoring, missionaries started teaching Hawaiians about the christian religion. Amazingly, the missionaries were able to translate the christian bible into the Hawaiian language. This was a difficult task because Hawaiian was only a spoken language. Because of this, the missionaries wrote a Hawaiian alphabet and decided that each English letter would represent a sound used in the Hawaiian language. Though unlike the English alphabet, the Hawaiian alphabet has only twelve letters-five vowels and seven consonants.
The missionaries started the first schools to ever be created on the islands. Classrooms were shady trees or shrubs such as palms and pili grass. It didn't take long until many Hawaiians learned to read and write their own language, while successfully learning English. Missionaries wanted to encourage their new understanding of the English language by banning the Hawaiian language during school hours. After banning their own language, they were pushing things too far when missionaries banned the traditional Hawaiian hula dance. They did this because they believed that the hula was a reminder of the Hawaiians' non-Christian religion. Although their sacred dance was banned, many danced in private.
Missionaries successfully helped create the Kingdom of Hawai'i Constitution of 1840.
This Constitution can be read on the following website: http://www.hawaii-nation.org/constitution-1840.html