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While the bulk of U.S. news coverage in the Caribbean tends to focus on Puerto Rico, the U.S Virgin Islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas are rarely part of the discussion. 

The USVI did garner some mainstream media coverage in 2017 when they were hit by Hurricane Irma and then Hurricane Maria, and there is coverage from time to time of Stacey Plaskett, the USVI’s nonvoting delegate to Congress. But it’s doubtful that mainlanders learn much, if anything, about this U.S. colony—aka territory— in school. I know I didn’t. 

Do a Google search of the USVI, and the first result will no doubt detail beaches and resorts. How many readers can even name the USVI’s current governor? 

With all the recent news about the orange occupant of the White House threatening to seize or forcibly buy Greenland from Denmark, it’s interesting to note that in the past, the U.S. “bought” what is now the USVI from Denmark—and that transaction has historical connections to Greenland. 

According to this Arctic Institute article by Romain Chuffart and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “History Repeats Itself: It Has To; No One Listens”:

This is the not the first time the U.S. looks to purchasing territory from the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1916, the US bought the erstwhile Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands). In the same treaty, the US renounced any claim to Greenland and recognised Danish sovereignty over the entire island.

Jan. 17 marks one of the historical anniversaries of the process. I covered the centennial of the purchase here, back in 2017, in “From the Danish West Indies to the U.S. Virgin Islands: Overlooked colony is celebrating centennial.”

Today is another such anniversary. On Jan. 17, 1917, the purchase treaty ratification was formally exchanged between the U.S. and Denmark, proclaimed by then-U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, and again on March 9 by the King of Denmark, Christian X.  

There are several YouTube videos available that tell the story. My favorite is “The Colonisation of the Virgin Islands” a 15-minute historical journey by a content creator named Dexter who is from the Virgin Islands.

The U.S. State Department Archive also tells the story. The entire piece is being posted here since we don’t know how long the archives will remain accessible and unsanitized:

Purchase of the United States Virgin Islands, 1917

Beginning in 1867, the United States made several attempts to expand its influence into the Caribbean by acquiring the Danish West Indies. However, due to a number of political difficulties in concluding and ratifying a treaty to govern this exchange, this collection of islands did not become a part of the United States until their formal transfer from Denmark on March 31, 1917. After the transfer, the United States Government changed the name of the islands to the Virgin Islands of the United States.

The Danish West Indies were controlled by several European powers before coming under Danish control in the late 1600s. The Danish West Indies were further enlarged by the 1733 purchase of the island of St. Croix from France, and an 1848 revolt led to the abolition of slavery in the colony. However, after the 1830s, the islands entered into a period of economic decline, and the Danish government found that the West Indies colony was becoming increasingly expensive to administrate.

In 1867, Secretary of State William Henry Seward attempted to acquire the Danish West Indies as part of his plan for peaceful territorial expansion. Seward successfully negotiated a treaty that was ratified by the Danish parliament and approved by a local, limited-suffrage plebiscite. The treaty also allowed islanders the choice to remain Danish subjects or become U.S. citizens. However, the U.S. Senate, angered over Seward's support of President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial, rejected the treaty.

John Hay, U.S. Secretary of State from 1898 to 1905, was also interested in acquiring the Danish West Indies, as part of his broader plans for American expansion and securing the route of the future Panama Canal. In 1900, the U.S. and Danish governments again entered into a treaty, which the Senate ratified in 1902. However, the upper house of the Danish parliament did not ratify this treaty, deadlocking in a tied vote. The 1902 treaty did not contain a plebiscite provision, nor did it accord U.S. citizenship to the islanders. The U.S. purchase of the Danish West Indies was thus delayed again.

In 1915, especially after the sinking of the Lusitania, the issue of the U.S. purchase of the Danish West Indies again became an important issue in U.S. foreign policy. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing feared that the German government might annex Denmark, in which case the Germans might also secure the Danish West Indies as a naval or submarine base from where they could launch additional attacks on shipping in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Lansing thus approached Constantin Brun, the Danish Minister to the United States, about the possible purchase of the Danish West Indies in October of 1915, but Brun rejected the proposal. Many Danes resisted U.S. acquisition of these islands as they expected that the unfortunate civil rights record of the U.S. in the early twentieth century would have disastrous consequences for the predominantly black population of the Danish West Indies. The Danish government thus required that any treaty transferring ownership of the islands to the United States would make provisions for a local plebiscite, U.S. citizenship for the islanders, and free trade. Lansing rejected these provisions claiming that these issues fell under the jurisdiction of Congress and thus could not be extended by treaty. Lansing also objected to a treaty provision that Danish citizens be guaranteed the legal rights that they currently enjoyed on the islands. Concerned about recent events and Danish recalcitrance, Lansing implied that if Denmark was unwilling to sell, the United States might occupy the islands to prevent their seizure by Germany.

Preferring peaceful transfer to occupation, the Danish government agreed to Lansing's demands, and Brun and Lansing signed a treaty in New York on August 4, 1916. The treaty was approved by the Danish Lower House on August 14, and subsequently passed by the Danish Upper House. The treaty was approved by a Danish plebiscite (though not a Virgin Islands plebiscite) on December 14. Subsequent re-approvals of the transfer were passed by both Danish houses, and then ratified by King Christian X of Denmark. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on September 6, and it was signed by Woodrow Wilson on January 16, 1917. Formal transfer of the islands occurred on March 31, 1917, along with a U.S. payment to Denmark of $25,000,000 in gold coin.

United States colonial policy distinguished between citizens and "nationals," or inhabitants of colonies to whom the rights of U.S. citizenship were not conferred. However, U.S. officials initially displayed inconsistency on that status until Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk wrote on March 9, 1920 that Virgin Islanders had "American nationality" but not the "political status of citizens." The U.S. Virgin Islands were administered by the U.S. Navy from 1917 to 1931. Full U.S. citizenship to all residents born in the U.S. Virgin Islands was extended in 1932 by an act of Congress, and a 1936 act accorded a greater measure of self-government, although the islands would not have an elected governor until 1970.

Becky Little wrote “The U.S. Bought 3 Virgin Islands from Denmark. The Deal Took 50 Years” for History:

On 4th August 1916, the American government issued a declaration to the Danish government that it would not raise objections if Denmark extended its interests in Greenland to include the entire island. This was perhaps surprising given the 1832 Monroe Doctrine intended to limit European colonialism. The declaration paved the way for recognition of Danish sovereignty by other nations.

[...]

The Danish West Indies transferred to the USA on 31st March 1917 and were from then on called the United States Virgin Islands.  On 21st May 1921, Denmark formally declared that all of Greenland was subject to Danish rule.

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