On 21 May 1840, New Zealand was formally annexed to the British Crown, and the following year the capital was moved to Auckland, some 200 km south of Waitangi.
Heke and the Ngāpuhi chief Pōmare II had listened to Captain William Mayhew (the Acting-Consul for the United States from 1840) and other Americans talk about the successful revolt of the American colonies against England over the issue of taxation.