Both Alapaʻi and her husband were trusted advisors of the king and Kamehameha III included them in his counsel. She served in the House of Nobles, the upper house of the Hawaiian legislature, from 1845 to 1849, and served as a member of the Privy Council from 1848 to 1849.[19][20] While most women in the United States had few rights, a considerable number of Hawaiian chiefesses were active in politic. An anonymous journalist of the Boston Atlas in a letter to editor wrote about the first official opening of the Hawaiian legislature in Honolulu in 1845: