Third Time’s the Charm: How America Secured the Virgin Islands

In ‘This Week in History,’ after 50 years and multiple treaties, Denmark finally cedes the Danish West Indies to America.

St. Thomas harbor and Charlotte Amalie—on St. Thomas island in the Danish West Indies, circa 1893. Public Domain

Inside the stunningly ornate Biltmore Hotel in New York City sat Secretary of State Robert Lansing and Danish Chargé d’Affaires Constantin Brun. The purpose of this Aug. 4, 1916 meeting was to sign a treaty “providing for the cession to the United States of all territory asserted or claimed by Denmark in the West Indies, including the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, together with the adjacent islands and rocks.” Signing the treaty felt more like a formality than a conclusion of negotiations. The two nations had been at this stage several times before with nothing to show for their efforts.

Denmark had long possessed these Caribbean islands, having colonized St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix in 1671, 1718, and 1733, respectively. As Danish historian Hans Christian Bjerg claims, by the 19th century, “the three islands had become an economic burden instead of a profitable possession.”

Furthermore, the Danes were losing their grip as a global power, as European nations pushed and prodded their way to dominance. The Napoleonic Wars witnessed the rise and fall of France, but also the devastation of neighboring countries.

The French Revolution, however, had left the scent of revolution in the air. “Do you not feel, through a kind of instinctive intuition that cannot be analyzed but that is certain, that the ground is shaking once again in Europe?” French historian Alexis de Tocqueville asked at the start of 1848 in his book “Souvenirs.”

“Do you not feel—how shall I call it?—that a revolutionary wind is blowing?”

The Schleswig Wars

Danish Infantry Regiment repels attack by Austrian hussars, during the Second Schleswig War. Public Domain

Tocqueville’s “instinctive intuition” proved prescient. As a Cambridge University study stated, “The single most striking feature of the 1848 revolutions was their simultaneity.” Across Europe swept republican revolutions, and Denmark was no exception.

In the spring of 1848, when Danish nationalists wished to incorporate the region of Schleswig into the Kingdom of Denmark, which would have detached it from Holstein, protests by the German majority of the Schleswig-Holstein duchies erupted. The uprising resulted in the First Schleswig War from 1848 to 1851, which witnessed conflict between the Danes and the Prussians. It also witnessed the creation of two constitutions: one for the Kingdom of Denmark and one for Schleswig-Holstein. Although the Danes won the war, the conflict between the Danish-Schleswig and Schleswig-Holstein factions was far from over.

Representatives from Great Britain, Russia, France, Austria, Prussia, Sweden and Norway, and Denmark gathered in London to establish a new agreement about the duchies. The London Protocol of 1852 was signed, which, among other things, assured the duchies would not become part of Denmark. One major problem with this agreement was that neither the assemblies of Schleswig or Holstein, nor the German Confederation were consulted on the matter.

In 1863, conflict erupted again when Danish King Frederick VII announced a new shared constitution between Denmark and the duchies. Two days later, the king fell ill and died, leaving his successor, Christian IX to sign the constitution.

The Prussians and the Austrians reacted to the signing by invading Schleswig, starting the Second Schleswig War. By the fall of 1864, an armistice had been reached and the belligerent powers met in Vienna. The Prussians and Austrians dominated the peace conference. According to Danish historians, Inge Adriansen and Jens Ole Christensen, “The peace treaty was signed on 30 October 1864. The conditions were simple and harsh: the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg were to be ceded to the victors. At one stroke, Denmark lost two-fifths of its area and one third of its population.”

Seward’s Expansion

Of course, at this same time, America was experiencing its own violent convulsions. The American Civil War had erupted in April 1861, and by the time Danes, Prussians, and Austrians were signing their treaty in Vienna, the war between the states was coming to a close.

Finally experiencing some breathing room, Secretary of State William Seward began eyeing locales on both sides of the continental United States: Alaska to the west and the Danish West Indies to the east. Alaska had been on the American radar before the start of the Civil War, and on March 30, 1867, America and Russia signed the Treaty of Cession. Ten days later, the Senate ratified the treaty 37-2. Gaining the Danish West Indies, however, would not be so easy.

Thomas Nast cartoon on Alaska, 1867. Seward hoped that the purchase will help cool Johnson's fevered political situation. Public domain

The necessity for a naval harbor in the West Indies became evident during the Civil War. In January 1865, a few months before the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox, Seward contacted the Danish minister to the U.S. Gen. W.R. Raasloff, inquiring about the islands. St. Thomas was the crown jewel of the islands, perfectly situated in the Caribbean and fronting the entrance to the Pacific Ocean. The island also possessed an ideal natural harbor.

In 1866, Seward visited the islands of the Danish West Indies and had them surveyed. Adm. David Porter called St. Thomas “a small Gibraltar,” and noted that it was “the keystone to the arch of the West Indies: It commands them all.”

The First Treaty

In October 1867, Denmark and the United States had finally come to an agreement. America would pay Denmark $7.5 million in gold coins for the islands of St. Thomas and St. John. Island inhabitants could choose to become U.S. citizens or remain Danish citizens. When a plebiscite was conducted on the islands, the islanders approved the sale 1,244 to 22. All that was needed was for the Danish Landsting (comparative to the U.S. Senate) and the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty. The Landsting ratified the treaty, and, on Nov. 27, 1867, King Christian IX announced the sale. The announcement was premature.

The Republican-led Senate had the proverbial chip on its shoulder. The Senate despised President Andrew Johnson, who had become president after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. These senators were also displeased with Seward’s support of Johnson. Senator Charles Sumner, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, stonewalled the treaty. Feb. 22, 1868, the expiration date for ratification, was extended to April 14, 1870. The extension made no difference. The Senate refused to ratify.

Growing Concerns

A few months later, the Franco-Prussian War began. With its end, the German Confederation gained more land, specifically Alsace-Lorraine, and ultimately formed into the German Empire. Germany was growing, and it wasn’t simply the Europeans who were concerned. The Americans feared that the Germans might be looking to the West Indies. For a brief period in the mid-1880s, the Germans began eyeing the Caribbean, specifically St. Thomas.

The Danes broached the subject of the islands to Secretary of State James G. Blaine. After Blaine’s resignation in 1892 and the appointment of John W. Foster, who served the final eight months of President Benjamin Harrison’s administration, discussions furthered, but nothing came of them.

Around this time, the French were struggling to construct the Panama Canal, a project which raised even more concerns about European traffic and naval establishments in the Caribbean. In his 1897 book “The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future,” Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan, concluded that St. Thomas “better than any other, represents the course from Europe to the Isthmus.” He added, concerning “the chain of positions from Yucatan to St. Thomas,” that “as far as is possible to position, apart from mobile force, these represent control over the northern entrances—the most important entrances—into the Caribbean Sea. No one of this chain belongs to any of the Powers commonly reckoned as being of the first order of strength.”

It was imperative to keep those powers “of the first order of strength” at bay. The Spanish-American War certainly helped do that, although, over the decades, Spain had fallen from that first order.

Lodge’s Report, Hay’s Attempt

On Feb. 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, ultimately leading to the Spanish-American War from April to December. On March 31, however, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge issued a report to the Foreign Relations Committee regarding the Danish West Indies.

“So long as these islands are in the market there is always the danger that some European power may purchase, or try to purchase, them,” Lodge noted in his report. “This would be an infraction of the Monroe doctrine, and would at once involve the United States in a very serious difficulty with the European power which sought possession of the islands. In the interest of peace, it is of great importance that these islands should pass into the hands of the United States and cease to be a possible source of foreign complications, which might easily lead to war. From a military point of view the value of these islands to the United States can hardly be overestimated.”

Negotiations soon began again in 1900 and lasted two years. On Jan. 24, 1902, Secretary of State John Hay and Brun signed the treaty, which would cede St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix to the United States for $5 million. The treaty was ratified by the Senate and the president on Feb. 17 and March 1, respectively. This time, however, it was the Danish Landsting, which chose not to ratify.

Map showing the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. Public Domain

Third Time’s the Charm

It seemed as though America would never gain the Danish West Indies. When Europe erupted in war around the same time the Panama Canal opened, the global conflict brought the threat of European powers “of the first order” even closer to home. Germany was again seeking to extend its empire, and its unrestricted submarine warfare proved that the Monroe Doctrine was not enough to deter it.

Fearing the German annexation of Denmark, and therefore the Danish West Indies, President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing believed it imperative to obtain the islands. By the time Lansing inquired in 1915 about purchasing the islands, Danish attitudes had changed. Brun rejected Lansing’s proposal, and it appeared the Danes in general were against the acquisition. Brun countered Lansing, suggesting that any treaty would require a local plebiscite, automatic U.S. citizenship for the inhabitants, and free trade between the islands and the United States.

Lansing made the ultimate counterproposal: Considering the European conditions and the growing threat of the German Empire, the Americans might be forced to occupy the islands outright due to national security concerns.

On Aug. 4, 1916, Lansing and Brun, seated together in the Biltmore Hotel, signed the treaty. But Lansing understood, as had many other secretaries of state before him, that this was merely the first of numerous necessary steps.

This time, however, was different. The Senate ratified the treaty on Sept. 7, followed by the Danes on Dec. 22. Wilson ratified the treaty on Jan. 16, 1917. There was one more step left before the islands were ceded. America had to pay the agreed $25 million.

“The treaty of cession of these islands to the United States is a matter of no small moment to this country,” Lansing wrote to Wilson on Jan. 22, 1917. “I do not hesitate, therefore, to recommend that the Congress be urged to take action during the present session to enable this Government to discharge its conventional obligation to Denmark by the payment to the Government of Denmark of the sum of $25,000,000 by April 17th next.”

Ambassador Brun receives a check for $25 million, finalizing the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States, March 31, 1917. Public Domain

It was during this week in history, on March 31, 1917, that the United States paid Denmark $25 million in gold coin, and Denmark officially ceded to the United States “all territory asserted or claimed by Denmark in the West Indies, including the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, together with the adjacent islands and rocks.” The Danish West Indies had now become the Virgin Islands.

The Danish flag is lowered at the Governor's Mansion at St. Croix for the last time, March 31, 1917. Public Domain

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