Arthur P. Peterson
| Arthur P. Peterson | |
|---|---|
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Kingdom of Hawaii Attorney General |
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In office June 17, 1890 – February 25, 1891 |
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| Monarch | Kalakaua |
| Preceded by | Clarence W. Ashford |
| Succeeded by | William A. Whiting |
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In office January 13, 1893 – January 17, 1893 |
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| Monarch | Liliuokalani |
| Preceded by | Cecil Brown |
| Succeeded by | William Owen Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 21, 1858 New Bedford, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 16, 1895 (aged 36) San Francisco, California |
| Resting place | Oahu Cemetery |
| Nationality |
Kingdom of Hawaii United States |
| Alma mater |
Punahou School University of Michigan Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Politician, Newspaper Editor |
Arthur Porter Peterson (November 21, 1858 – March 16, 1895) was a lawyer and politician of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He served two separate terms as Attorney General of Hawaii and was a member of Queen Liliuokalani's last cabinet before the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was arrested and jailed by the Republic of Hawaii in the aftermath of the 1895 Counter-Revolution and then exiled to San Francisco where he died of pneumonia.
Peterson was born November 21, 1858 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, of Puritan heritage. His parents were Daniel Porter Peterson and Jerusha Morey Clark. In 1870, at the age of eleven, he and his family settled in the Hawaiian Islands. He was educated at Punahou School in Honolulu, and returned to the United States where he graduated from University of Michigan Law School. He was admitted to the Plymouth County bar and started his law practice in Boston. While in Boston, he also helped established, with William E. Chase, a local newspaper called The Daily Bee.
After returning to Hawaii, he served as Deputy Attorney General under Attorneys General Antone Rosa and Clarence W. Ashford for two years and retired in March 1890, to return to private law practice. In April 1890, he was appointed Notary Public for the First Judicial Circuit of the Kingdom.
In June 1890, King Kalakaua appointed him Attorney General of Hawaii as a part of the Cummins Cabinet, a position he held from June 17, 1890 to February 25, 1891. In January 1891, Kalākaua died while abroad in California and his sister ascended to the throne as Queen Liliuokalani. After the accession of the new sovereign, it was customary for the hold-over cabinet of the deceased monarch to resign, but the Cummins Cabinet refused the queen's request for them to resign citing the 1887 Constitution which only gave the legislature the power to the dismiss cabinet ministers. They asked for a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court, and the justices (except for one dissenting opinion) ruled in favor of the queen's decision, and the ministers resigned.
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