King Kalākaua is said to have wanted to build a Polynesian Empire. In 1886, the legislature gave the government $30,000 for the formation of a Polynesian confederation. The King sent representatives to Sāmoa. There Malietoa Laupepa agreed to a confederation between the two kingdoms. This confederation did not last very long, because King Kalākaua lost power the next year to the Bayonet Constitution.