Ko ngā whakaaro a te Karauna mō te tiriti
I te nuinga o te wā ka whakamāramahia te Tiriti o Waitangi e ngā āpiha koroniara i runga i te tuhinga reo Pākehā, i iti iho te miramira kia whakapūmau i te mana o ngā rangatira, i tō te mea reo Māori. Kāore anō kia pau te whā tau i muri i te waitohutanga, i whakaae ngā āpiha me kōpiri ngā mōtika tuku iho o ngā rangatira nā te mea ka taupatupatu ki te mana Karauna.
Ahakoa he mana ngā rangatira kāore i waitohu i te tiriti, i tohe te kāwanatanga o Piritānia nā tēnei i noho ngā Māori katoa i raro i te mana o Piritānia. I whakanonoi ngā māngai kāwanatanga me ngā kāwana ka tuku te tiriti i te whakahaumaru me ngā oati ki ngāi Māori, engari i ētahi wā i taupatupatu ēnei takune ki te tikanga ōkawa ina whakamahi ana i ngā take ture me ngā take whenua. Ko te whakarekereke i waenganui i ngā tāngata whai me ngāi Māori ki Wairau i te tau 1843 me te pakanga ki Te Tai Tokerau i te tau 1845 he kawainga o ngā pakanga taumaha ake e puta ai ā tōna wā. I ētahi wā ka warea katoatia te tiriti e te kāwanatanga. Hei tauira, ka whakahauraro te kāwanatanga ki te pēhanga a te Kamupene o Aotearoa, ā, ka whakamanahia ana hoko teka o te whenua Māori kia whakatū i te tāone o Pōneke.
Ko ngā whakaaro a te Māori mō te tiriti
He maha ngā Māori kāore i whakapono ka ū tonu te Karauna ki ana herenga i raro i te tiriti. Ka whakatūturuhia aua kārangirangi i te tekau tau i muri i te hainatanga. Ko te 'protector of aborigines', i kopoua e te kāwanatanga kia whakahaumaru i ngā whaipānga Māori, i hapa nā te tū hei kaiwhiriwhiri hoko whenua. I whakakorengia te tūnga i te tau 1846. I te tau 1857, i runga i te āwangawanga ka tango pea te Karauna i te whenua papatua Māori ka tono a Te Wherowero, he rangatira nō Waikato, ki a Kuini Wikitōria. I tukuna tana oati ka whakahōnoretia ngā kī taurangi tiriti ki te Māori e Kāwana Hori Kerei.
He tūhono e kore e motu
I roto i tana pukapuka o 1860 e whakahēhē ana i te pūrongo kāwanatanga ki Taranaki, ka tuhi a William Martin, tētahi Kaiwhakawā Tumuaki o mua, ‘Here in New Zealand our nation has engaged in an enterprise most difficult, yet also most noble and worthy of England. We have undertaken to acquire these islands for the Crown and for our race, without violence and without fraud, and so that the native people, instead of being destroyed, should be protected and civilized … The compact is binding irrevocably. We cannot repudiate it so long as we retain the benefit which we obtained by it.'1
Te panoni o te hangarite o te mana
E whakaatuhia ana te takune a te kāwanatanga ki te whakahōnore i te tiriti i roto i ētahi o ana mahi tuatahi me ngā iwi. Heoi anō, i ngā 1840 he iti te mana o te kāwanatanga i ngā wāhi maha o te motu, kāore he mana rānei. Ko te tūmanako a te Pāremata koroniara, i noho mō te wā tuatahi i te tau 1854, kia whiwhi ki te mana nui ake, ā, kāore i te hiahia kia tuari taua mana me te Māori. Ko te putanga, ka awerehia ngāi Māori i te whai wāhi atu ki ngā whakataunga tōrangapū ā-motu.
I te hīkaka ngā kaiwaitohu Māori mō ētahi pānga – me te nui ake o te hua - ki te Pākehā, engari ka ohorere rātou ki te tokomaha o ngā Pākehā whakakoroni e taetae mai ana ki ngā kāinga matua pērā i Tāmakimakaurau, Te Whanganui-a-Tara me Whakatū. He mea whakawehi te pūtohe a ngā tāngata whai ki te whiwhi whenua Māori i roto i ēnei kāinga, e tata ana rānei, ki ngā Māori o aua rohe kāore i te hiahia ki te hoko i ō rātou whenua. Heoi anō, i ētahi atu takiwā, he pērā anō te ao mō ngā iwi me ngā hapū i mau tonu ki te whakahaere o ō rātou whenua. I ngā rohe maha, i whakawhirinaki ngā tāngata whai ki te Māori mō te whakahaumaru, ngā ratonga kai me te āwhina. I ngā 1840, ka kaha ake te Māori i roto i te hangarite mana i waenganui i a rātou me ngā Pākehā i te nuinga o ngā takiwā.
Te Kīngitanga
I roto i ngā 1840 me ngā 1850 ka whakamakoha te taunga mai o ngā Pākehā, ā, ka kino ake te manawa pā e pā ana ki te whenua. Ko te urupare a ētahi iwi he whakakaha i ngā rūnanga tuku iho. I waihanga ngā iwi o Waikato i te hononga, e whai ana i te kotahitanga, me te aha, ka uru mai ngā iwi i takiwā kē. I te tau 1858 i kopoua a Te Wherowhero he rangatira nō Tainui hei upoko o tēnei hononga, ā, ina tapaina ana ki te ingoa Pōtatau, ka tū hei kīngi Māori tuatahi. Ko tētahi whāinga o te Kīngitanga kia pupuri te mau ki te whenua mā te karo i te hoko. I whakapono te Kīngitanga ka taea te noho ngātahi o te kīngi Māori me te kuini Piritānia i runga i te rangimārie.
Ko ngā waiaro Pākehā ki te tiriti
I te mutunga o ngā 1850, ka noho weherua te whakaaro a te Pākehā ki te tiriti. Ko ētahi Pākehā, pērā i a William Martin (i tuhi i tētahi pukapuka hāngai), i maharara ka whakahēngia pea te hōnore o te Karauna i runga i te tautoko i ngā kī taurangi i roto i te tiriti. Ki ētahi atu, kāore te tiriti e tīaroaro ana ki te anga whakamua o te taunga mai o te Pākehā. E ai ki ngā āpiha kāwanatanga, ko te kīngi Māori hei wero kaikaiwaiūtanga ki te sovereignty a te Piritānia, nā reira, kāore e kore ka tū te whawhai i waenga i te Karauna me ngāi Māori.
