Henry Ernest Cooper (August 28, 1857 – May 15, 1929) was an American lawyer who moved to the Kingdom of Hawaii and became prominent in Hawaiian politics in the 1890s. He formally deposed Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii in 1893, held various offices in the ensuing Provisional Government of Hawaii and Republic of Hawaii governments, and was the first United States Territory of Hawaii Attorney General, 1899–1900. He later became a circuit judge in Honolulu.
Early life
Cooper was born August 28, 1857, in New Albany, Indiana, to Harriet Augusta Cooper and William Giles Cooper, a lawyer from England. He was educated in public schools in Boston and received the LLB degree from the Boston University School of Law in 1878. He was admitted to the bar in Suffolk County, Massachusetts and practiced law there.
Cooper married Mary Ellen Porter October 2, 1883, in San Diego, California. In 1884 he named his estate Bonita Ranch, and the name was applied to the post office of Bonita, California. There the Coopers had five children: Alfred Dykes Cooper (born 6/8/1886), Henry Ernest Cooper Jr. (born July 1887), Wallace McKay Cooper (August 1888 – April 1, 1966), Theodore Augustus Cooper (born October 28, 1889), and Alice Cooper (December 9, 1890 – 1978). He worked as an attorney for the California Southern Railroad, including arguing several cases in the Supreme Court of California.
Cooper then moved with his family to the Hawaiian Islands in 1890. In Hawaii the Coopers had three more children: Ysabel Cooper, and twin Irene, (born February 19, 1894), and Francis Judd Cooper (born April 6, 1895). They settled in the Mānoa Valley near Honolulu where Cooper Road is named for him at .
Politics
In Hawaii, Cooper quickly got involved in Hawaiian politics during a very turbulent decade, with several changes of government.
On January 14, 1893, he was chairman of the Citizens' Committee of Safety which organized the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. On January 16 his name was the first on a letter to John L. Stevens, the United States Minister to Hawaii, saying "...the public safety is menaced and lives and property are in peril, and we appeal to you and the United States forces at your command for assistance." On January 17, before a crowd in front of 'Iolani Palace, he read the proclamation deposing Queen Lili'uokalani and establishing the provisional Government of Hawaii, and the next day was made a member of the advisory council to President Sanford B. Dole.
From March 7, 1893, to November 4, 1895, he was judge of the first circuit court. Beginning on November 6, 1895, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of what was then the Republic of Hawaii through March 29, 1899. He acted temporarily in all other posts of Dole's cabinet as the other members traveled to negotiate with the United States on annexation. These included Attorney General from November 6, 1895, to December 12, 1895, and from February 10, 1897, to April 16, 1897; Minister of Finance from May 5, 1896, to August 10, 1897; and Minister of the Interior from March 4, 1898, to July 1, 1898. He was also appointed to the Board of Health on February 12, 1897, later becoming president of the board until 1900.
From January 11, 1898, to March 3, 1898, Cooper was the acting president of the republic. From March 20, 1899, to June 14, 1900, he was attorney general of the new Territory of Hawaii. Under the Hawaiian Organic Act, on June 14, 1900, President William McKinley appointed him to be the first secretary of the territory, and also as treasurer of the territory. He was acting governor from March 31, 1902, to June 3, 1902. A few days after resigning the treasurer post December 2, 1902, he became superintendent of public works from December 6, 1902, to November 18, 1903.
This prompted some in the press to call him the real power in the territory, accusing him of taking the public works position because he could make more money. A local newspaper said:Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, but it is only rarely that an ordinary cooper is enabled to thrust such constantly growing greatness upon himself as does this Territorial Cooper of ours. On January 1, 1903, he sent congratulatory messages over the first submarine communications cable from San Francisco to Hawaii. Recipients included US President Theodore Roosevelt and Clarence Mackay, president of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company.