This dissertation surveys the development of the Hawaiian higher educational system in the 19th century Hawaiian Kingdom as a strategy of Hawaiian leadership in promoting and protecting Hawaiian independence. This analysis revisits a Hawaiian educational history canon that overwhelmingly credits missionaries and foreigners as imposing an educational system in Hawai'i that paves the way for eventual American takeover in 1893 and 1898. Conversely, this analysis centers Hawaiian agency and action to unveil the ways in which Hawaiian leadership and the Hawaiian population were the architects of an unprecedented and progressive educational system in the 19th century. This system of schools, policies, laws and governing structure was also designed to uphold national goals of securing and preserving Hawaiian independence, as Hawaiian leadership articulated the correlation between education and the interests of the Hawaiian state. Archival, primary sources in both Hawaiian and English are central to this study, including legislative and session laws, minutes of the Legislature and Privy Councils, Hawaiian historical accounts from the Hawaiian language and English newspapers, as well as other government correspondence, reports and records, and ali'i letters and journals. This dissertation seeks to answer the question: "what were the arcs of Hawaiian higher education in the 19th century Hawaiian Kingdom, and in what ways did it intersect with the larger arcs of Hawaiian society and the developing Hawaiian state?" This study concludes with a discussion on implications of this analysis today as well as in the future, examining the ways in which this Hawaiian educational history provides a blueprint for education interventions today and towards a post-occupied Hawai'i. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]