Treaty of the Danish West Indies
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Treaty of the Danish West Indies, officially the Convention between the United States and Denmark for cession of the Danish West Indies, was a 1916
treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...
transferring
sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
of the
Virgin Islands in the Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...
from
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in exchange for a sum of
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
25,000,000 in gold ($ million in ). It is one of the most recent permanent expansions of United States territory.


History


Background

Two of the islands had been in Danish possession since the 17th century and
St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...
since 1733. The glory days of the colony had been from around 1750 to 1850 based on transit trade and the production of
rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...
and
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
using African
slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
s as labor. By the second half of the 19th century the sugar production was embattled by the cultivation of
sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
s, and although the slaves had been emancipated in 1848, the agricultural land and the trade was still controlled by the white population, and the living conditions of the descendants of the slaves were poor. By the early 1850s the islands had become increasingly unprofitable and expensive to govern from Denmark. At the negotiations for the Treaty of Vienna after the defeat in the
Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...
in 1864, Denmark had tried to use the islands as a trade-in for South Jutland (Schleswig), but the Prussian Government was not interested. On the eve of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the United States became interested in the islands as the possible location of a
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
naval base. After the war ended, October 24, 1867, the Danish parliament, the
Rigsdag Rigsdagen () was the name of the national legislature of Denmark from 1849 to 1953. ''Rigsdagen'' was Denmark's first parliament, and it was incorporated in the Constitution of 1849. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of two houses, th ...
, ratified a treaty on the sale of two of the islands — St. Thomas and St. John — for a sum of US$7,500,000. However, the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
did not ratify the treaty due to concerns over a number of natural disasters that had struck the islands and a political feud with President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
that eventually led to his impeachment. Negotiations resumed in 1899 following the unofficial diplomacy of
Walter Christmas Walter Christmas-Dirckinck-Holmfeld (10 February 1861–18 March 1924), commonly known as Walter Christmas, was a Danish author, naval officer, diplomat, and spy for MI6. Today, he is best known for his children's books. He also wrote novels, no ...
. On January 24, 1902, Washington signed a convention on the transfer of the islands for a sum of US$5,000,000. The treaty was not approved in the Landsting, one chamber of the Danish legislature, within the allotted time due to obstruction by the opposition. A new treaty was concluded in June 1902, extending the time limit of ratification by one year. One chamber of the Danish parliament — the
Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
— passed the proposal, but in the other chamber — the Landsting — it failed with 32 votes against 32 (with one abstention) on October 22. In particular the conservative party
Højre Højre (, ''Right'') was the name of two Danish political parties of Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The c ...
opposed it on the grounds that the treaty did not ensure the local population a vote on the matter, and that it did not grant them
US citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
or freedom from
customs duty A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
on the export of sugar to the United States. According to historian Povl Engelstoft, there is no doubt that Council President
Johan Henrik Deuntzer Johan Henrik Deuntzer (20 May 1845 – 16 November 1918) was a Danish professor and politician who served as a member of the Liberal '' Venstre'' party until 1905 where he joined the Danish Social Liberal Party. He was Council President a ...
was privately against the sale even though his party, the
Venstre Reform Party VenstreThe party name is officially not translated into any other language, but is in English often referred to as the Liberal Party. Similar rules apply for the name of the party's youth wing Venstres Ungdom. (, ), full name Venstre, Danmarks Li ...
, supported it, and when the Landsting failed to pass the proposal, he made a statement that neither did he see a reason for the
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
to step down, nor would he dissolve the Landsting or assume responsibility for any further work related to the sale. This brought the process to a halt.


1915–16 negotiations

Labor leader David Hamilton Jackson made a visit to
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in May 1915. He successfully raised awareness of the growing social desperation on the islands and the need to enter the
customs territory A customs territory is a geographic territory with uniform customs regulations and there are no internal customs or similar taxes within the territory. Customs territories may fall into several types: * A sovereign state, including a federation * A ...
of the United States in order for the islands to be able to cope with their economic crisis. After his visit, a majority of the Folketing was convinced that the Danish supremacy of the islands had to end. The
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
had created a new situation: the relations between
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the United States were becoming worse as a consequence of Germany's
unrestricted submarine warfare Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships such as freighters and tankers without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules (also known as "cruiser rules") that call for warships to sea ...
, and the Americans were concerned that after an invasion of Denmark the Germans might take control of the islands. This would be unacceptable to the Americans as stated in the
Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile ac ...
. The Danish government was convinced that the islands had to be sold for the sake of both the residents and Danish security, and that a transfer would have to be realized before the United States entered the war, so that the transfer would not become a violation of the Danish neutrality. During May 1915,
Foreign Minister of Denmark The Minister for Foreign Affairs ( da, Udenrigsminister, fo, Uttanríkisráðharra, kl, Nunanut Allanut Ministeri) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. The officeholder is in charge of Danish (Denmark proper,), " metropolit ...
Erik Scavenius Erik Julius Christian Scavenius (; 13 July 1877 – 29 November 1962) was the Danish foreign minister from 1909 to 1910, 1913 to 1920 and 1940 to 1943, and prime minister from 1942 to 1943, during the occupation of Denmark until the Danish electe ...
contacted the American government with the message that he believed that the islands ought to be sold to the United States and that although he would not make an official proposal, "if the United States gave any encouragement to the consideration of the possibility of such a sale, it might be possible." On October 29, 1915,
United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Robert Lansing Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wils ...
managed to reopen the negotiations. The negotiations, which lasted until August 1916, were kept absolutely secret in order to maintain Danish neutrality. Although rumors of the future sale did leak to the press, they were denied categorically by both Scavenius and
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Edvard Brandes Carl Edvard Cohen Brandes (21 October 1847, in Copenhagen – 20 December 1931, in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician, critic and author, and the younger brother of Georg Brandes and Ernst Brandes. He had a Ph.D. in eastern philology. Biography ...
. Archive materials show that, during these talks, Lansing implied that if an agreement on the sale of the islands was not reached, the U.S. military might occupy the islands to prevent their seizure by Germany. During 1916, the two sides agreed to a sale price of $25,000,000, and the United States accepted a Danish demand for a declaration stating that they would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
". Although it had a claim on northern Greenland based on explorations by
Charles Francis Hall Charles Francis Hall ( – November 8, 1871) was an American Arctic explorer, best known for his collection of Inuit testimony regarding the 1845 Franklin Expedition and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death while leading t ...
and
Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...
, the United States decided that the purchase was more important, especially because of the nearby
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
. Historian
Bo Lidegaard Bo Lidegaard (born 23 January 1958 in Godthåb) is a Danish historian, dr.phil. public intellectual and former responsible editor-in-chief for ''Politiken''. Bo Lidegaard worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984-2005), was Ministerial Couns ...
questions the utility of such a declaration, as the country had never disputed Danish sovereignty. At the time of the purchase, the colony did not include Water Island, which had been sold by the Danish state to the
East Asiatic Company The EAC Invest A/S, formerly known as the Santa Fe Group and East Asiatic Company ( da, italic=yes, Det Østasiatiske Kompagni or ''ØK'') is a multinational holding and investment company, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. History The East Asiat ...
, a private shipping company, in 1905. The company eventually sold the island to the United States in 1944, during the
German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...
.


Ratification

The treaty was signed on August 4, 1916, at the Biltmore Hotel in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
by Danish Minister Constantin Brun and Secretary of State
Robert Lansing Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wils ...
.; 7 Bevans 56. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty on September 7, 1916. A Danish referendum was held on December 14, 1916, and on December 22 the Danish parliament ratified the treaty. U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
ratified the treaty on January 16, 1917. Ratifications of the treaty were formally exchanged in Washington, D.C. on January 17, 1917. On January 25, President Wilson issued a proclamation on the treaty, and on March 9, King
Christian X of Denmark Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rather ...
also issued a proclamation. On March 31, 1917, in Washington, D.C. a warrant for twenty five million dollars in gold was presented to Danish Minister Constatine Brun by Secretary of State Robert Lansing. Little reaction to the sale occurred among Danes, who saw the West Indies as an investment despite more than two centuries of possession.


Cost

David R. Barker David R. Barker (born May 7, 1961) is an American author, academic, businessman, and politician, who began serving as a regent on the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa on May 1, 2019. A former economist for the Federal Reserve, Barker operate ...
of the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
stated that the acquisition of the Virgin Islands "is the clearest example of a negative net present value purchase" among US territorial acquisitions. "Expenses are high, and net revenues have been non-existent", he wrote; because of the Naval Appropriations Act For 1922, all tax revenue goes to the local government.


Notes


References


External links


Convention between the United States and Denmark for cession of the Danish West Indies
, {{Denmark topics
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
1916 in international relations 1916 in the Caribbean 1916 in the Danish colonial empire 1916 in the United States 1916 in the United States Virgin Islands 20th century in the Danish West Indies
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
History of the United States Virgin Islands History of United States expansionism Danish West Indies Politics of the United States Virgin Islands Presidency of Woodrow Wilson Denmark–United States relations August 1916 events