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1866 5c King Kamehameha V, Blue, Hawaii
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This 5-cent stamp from the Kingdom of Hawaii depicts King Kamehameha V, born Lot Kapuaiwa in 1830 and the grandson of Kamehameha the Great, who had unified the Hawaiian Islands under a single dynasty decades earlier. He came to the throne in November 1863 upon the death of his younger brother, Kamehameha IV, and reigned for nine years, during which he made clear from the outset that he intended to govern with a firmer hand than his predecessors. At his inauguration he refused to take the oath to uphold the existing constitution, and within a year had written and issued a new one — the Constitution of 1864 — that significantly strengthened the powers of the crown. That constitution remained in effect for 23 years.
His reign combined authoritarian governance with genuine concern for Hawaiian culture and the Hawaiian people. He worked to revive the hula tradition, which had fallen into disfavor under the influence of American missionaries who considered it immoral. He established the hospital at Kalaupapa on Molokai to treat patients afflicted with leprosy, a disease that was devastating the Native Hawaiian population. He also arranged the first organized labor contract bringing Japanese workers to Hawaii in 1868, a decision that would reshape the demographic character of the islands over the following decades. His personal motto was Onipaa, meaning immovable or steadfast, and it suited him.
Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 — his 42nd birthday — without naming an heir, bringing the House of Kamehameha to an end after more than six decades of rule. His death triggered the first contested succession in Hawaiian history, with the legislature ultimately electing a new king by popular vote, a significant departure from how power had previously passed in the kingdom. Hawaii operated its own postal system as a sovereign nation until annexation by the United States in 1898, and stamps like this one are among the few widely circulated records of the monarchy that shaped the islands in its final decades. The denomination reads in Hawaiian as Elima Keneta, meaning five cents.
This 5-cent stamp from the Kingdom of Hawaii depicts King Kamehameha V, born Lot Kapuaiwa in 1830 and the grandson of Kamehameha the Great, who had unified the Hawaiian Islands under a single dynasty decades earlier. He came to the throne in November 1863 upon the death of his younger brother, Kamehameha IV, and reigned for nine years, during which he made clear from the outset that he intended to govern with a firmer hand than his predecessors. At his inauguration he refused to take the oath to uphold the existing constitution, and within a year had written and issued a new one — the Constitution of 1864 — that significantly strengthened the powers of the crown. That constitution remained in effect for 23 years.
His reign combined authoritarian governance with genuine concern for Hawaiian culture and the Hawaiian people. He worked to revive the hula tradition, which had fallen into disfavor under the influence of American missionaries who considered it immoral. He established the hospital at Kalaupapa on Molokai to treat patients afflicted with leprosy, a disease that was devastating the Native Hawaiian population. He also arranged the first organized labor contract bringing Japanese workers to Hawaii in 1868, a decision that would reshape the demographic character of the islands over the following decades. His personal motto was Onipaa, meaning immovable or steadfast, and it suited him.
Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 — his 42nd birthday — without naming an heir, bringing the House of Kamehameha to an end after more than six decades of rule. His death triggered the first contested succession in Hawaiian history, with the legislature ultimately electing a new king by popular vote, a significant departure from how power had previously passed in the kingdom. Hawaii operated its own postal system as a sovereign nation until annexation by the United States in 1898, and stamps like this one are among the few widely circulated records of the monarchy that shaped the islands in its final decades. The denomination reads in Hawaiian as Elima Keneta, meaning five cents.
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