1868 Danish West Indies status referendum

Last updated
1868 Danish West Indies status referendum
Flag of Denmark.svg
9 January 1868 (1868-01-09)

Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svgYes1,24498.26%
Light brown x.svgNo221.74%

A referendum on transferring ownership to the United States was held on 9 January 1868 on the islands of Sankt Jan and Sankt Thomas, two of three main islands in the Danish West Indies. [1] In the referendum, held by universal male suffrage, voters could approve or reject the outcome of negotiations for the sale of the two islands to the United States for US$7.5 million. The third island, Sankt Croix, was to be sold separately to the US at a later date.

Contents

The sale was approved by 98.26% of voters. Although it was a binding referendum, the US Senate finally reneged on the agreement in 1870. [1] The Islands were later transferred to the United States after a second referendum in 1916 and the subsequent Treaty of the Danish West Indies.

Results

ChoiceVotes%
Green check.svg For1,24498.26
Against221.74
Invalid/blank votes
Total1,266100
Registered voters/turnout
Source: Direct Democracy

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Virgin Islands</span> Territory of the United States

The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish West Indies</span> Former Danish colony in the Caribbean

The Danish West Indies or Danish Virgin Islands or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 32 square miles (83 km2); Saint John with 19 square miles (49 km2); and Saint Croix with 84 square miles (220 km2). The islands have belonged to the United States as the Virgin Islands since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.

Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish overseas colonies</span> 1536–1953 colonies of Denmark–Norway and Denmark

Danish overseas colonies and Dano-Norwegian colonies were the colonies that Denmark–Norway possessed from 1536 until 1953. At its apex, the colonies spanned four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Referendums related to the European Union</span> List of referendums related to the European Union and its predecessor, the European Communities

This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate states, and their territories, with several additional referendums held in countries outside the EU. The referendums have been held most commonly on the subject of whether to become a member of European Union as part of the accession process, although the EU does not require any candidate country to hold a referendum to approve membership or as part of treaty ratification. Other EU-related referendums have been held on the adoption of the euro and on participation in other EU-related policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Malta</span>

Malta elects on a national level 6 MEPs representing Malta in the European Parliament, on a district level the legislature, on a local level the local councils, and on a community level the Administrative Committees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the United States Virgin Islands</span>

The United States Virgin Islands, often abbreviated USVI, are a group of islands and cays located in the Lesser Antilles of the Eastern Caribbean, consisting of three main islands and fifty smaller islets and cays. Like many of their Caribbean neighbors, the history of the islands is characterized by native Amerindian settlement, European colonization, and the Atlantic slave trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Indies</span> Island region of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean

The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island countries and 19 dependencies in three archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayan Archipelago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transfer Day</span>

Transfer Day is a holiday celebrated in the U.S. Virgin Islands on March 31. It marks the transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States that took place in 1917. The islands were initially held by various European countries, and were under the sole control of Denmark by 1754. Transfer Day could have taken place years earlier, but due to the construction and funding of the Panama Canal, the United States Senate rejected negotiations. Following money shortages from war, and the potential German invasion of Denmark, both sides saw the exchange as mutually beneficial. Transfer Day is now celebrated in a variety of ways on the various islands including parades, parties, and reenactment of the original Transfer Day itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1916 Danish West Indian Islands sale referendum</span> Danish referendum on the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States

A referendum on the sale of the Danish West Indian Islands to the United States of America was held in Denmark on 14 December 1916. The non-binding referendum saw 283,670 vote in favor of the sale of the Danish West Indian Islands and 158,157 against. The residents of the islands were not allowed to vote on the matter, but in an unofficial vote on Saint Croix arranged by David Hamilton Jackson, 4,027 voted in favor of the sale and only seven voted against. As a result of the referendum the islands were formally relinquished to the United States by the Treaty of the Danish West Indies on 31 March 1917 as the United States Virgin Islands for a sum of US$25,000,000 in gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1867 San Narciso hurricane</span> Category 3 Atlantic hurricane in 1867

The San Narciso Hurricane was the ninth and last known hurricane of the 1867 Atlantic hurricane season. Forming in late October, the hurricane, the costliest and deadliest storm of the 1867 Atlantic hurricane season, caused at least 811 deaths in Saint Thomas and Captaincy General of Puerto Rico and at least $1 million in damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of the Danish West Indies</span> 1916 treaty in which the U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark

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 transferring sovereignty of the Virgin Islands in the Danish West Indies from Denmark to the United States in exchange for a sum of US$25,000,000 in gold. It is one of the most recent permanent expansions of United States territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1916 Danish West Indies status referendum</span> Ballot measure in the Danish West Indies

An unofficial referendum on the sale of the islands to the United States was held in the Danish West Indies on 17 August 1916. The proposal was approved by 99.83% of voters, with only seven people voting against. It followed the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, which was signed on 4 August, and also approved by a referendum in Denmark in December 1916. The islands were transferred to the United States in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1870 Dominican Republic annexation referendum</span> Referendum in the Dominican Republic

A referendum on annexation by the United States was held in the Dominican Republic on 19 February 1870. The proposal was approved by 99.93% of voters, although turnout was just 30%. However, the United States Senate rejected the annexation on 30 June 1870 with a 28–28 vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1873 Dominican Republic Samaná Peninsula referendum</span> Referendum in the Dominican Republic

A referendum on leasing the Samaná Peninsula to the United States for 99 years was held in the Dominican Republic on 19 February 1873. The proposal was approved by 99.91% of voters, but was never implemented after President Buenaventura Báez was overthrown on 2 January 1874.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1877 Saint Barthélemy status referendum</span>

A referendum on re-integration into France was held in the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy in late October 1877. The island had been a colonial possession of Sweden for nearly a century, but following the referendum in which only one person voted against the proposal, it was returned to France the following year.

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This article summarises referendum laws and practice in various countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Danish Unified Patent Court membership referendum</span>

A referendum on joining the Unified Patent Court was held in Denmark on 25 May 2014 alongside European Parliament elections. The referendum was approved with 62.5% of the vote, enabling the government to proceed with the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which constitutes the legal basis for the Unified Patent Court. The court is from 1 June 2023 to be common to 17 Member States of the European Union for proceedings regarding European patents. Ratification of the agreement, which had already been approved by a simple majority of the Danish parliament, also renders the unitary patent applicable in Denmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Heinrich Riise</span>

Albert Heinrich Riise, often referred to as A. H. Riise, was a Danish pharmacist, merchant and manufacturer of rum on Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. A brand of rum is still named A.H. Riise after him. Late in his life he returned to Denmark, where Sankt Thomas Plads in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen is named after his former country house. He was the father of photographer Frederik Riise.

References