The [Lost] Art of the Deal

As Donald Trump approaches his inauguration next week, he is once again dominating the headlines. Whether seriously or jokingly, he has ignited a debate over a question that was not on anyone’s mind during the election campaign -- whether the United States should, or can, acquire Greenland, even by force. Most recently, he sent his son, Donald, Jr., on a trip to that island territory.

As readers know, this site particularly loves all things Danish. This writer is married to a native of Copenhagen and, as a result, our daughter, A.H., is half-Danish. A.H. spent a significant part of every summer during her youth visiting family in that kingdom, and I have spent a significant part of my adulthood there.

Not surprisingly, we have been following closely President-elect Trump’s statements on this issue. We have been bemused, as we are by many things Trump, but we have also been perturbed because, whether trolling or not, Trump has caused significant political turmoil in Denmark, a country not only dear to us, but a faithful ally of the United States. Denmark is one of the few NATO countries to meet its commitment to have a defense budget of 2% of GDP, and Denmark has fought alongside the United States in the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the conflict in Afghanistan. In fact, the number of Danish soldiers killed in the Afghan War was the highest, per capita, of any of the coalition countries. For this reason alone, Denmark doesn’t deserve this.

Trump is not the first person to propose that the United States acquire Greenland. The best-known offer, by Harry Truman, occurred in 1946, but the United States had made previous proposals in 1867, 1902, and 1917. None of these proposals came to fruition, although, in connection with the 1946 offer, the United States unilaterally refused to vacate military bases it had established during World War II, instead presenting the Danes with a fait accompli. Eventually, Denmark joined NATO and entered into a mutual defense treaty with the US.

However, Greenland is not the only piece of real estate that has been the subject of negotiation between the United States and Denmark. In 1917, the United States purchased the US Virgin Islands from Denmark, the subject of our article, A Presidents’ Week Update – Desmond Dekker’s “Israelites” And What The Virgin Islands Can Teach Us About Settler Colonialism. As we wrote then, Danish school children are taught, according to my wife, that Denmark only sold the islands because it had been given an offer that it could not refuse. In truth, the reality is much more complex.

Colonization of the Virgin Islands

While Danes are believed to have settled in Greenland in the late 10^th century, they did not come to the Virgin Islands for almost another 700 years. The islands were originally discovered by Christopher Columbus. The Spaniards drove away the indigenous population, but then abandoned the islands themselves. St. Thomas was briefly occupied by the British, but they too abandoned the island. Thus, it was uninhabited when the Danish West Indies Company established a trading post there and claimed sovereignty. In 1684, the Danes extended their colony to include St. John.

The island of St. Croix had been settled decades earlier. Originally claimed by the British (Sir Walter Raleigh being among the early Britons to arrive), it was seized by Spanish. It was thereafter captured by the French, sold to the Knights of Malta, and then retaken by the French. Eventually, the French abandoned the island, and, in 1733, they sold St. Croix to the Danes.

The Danes operated the Virgin Islands as did other colonial powers in the Caribbean. They engaged in the triangular trade of slaves, molasses, and rum. As we noted in our prior article, Alexander Hamilton is reputed to have become a life-long abolitionist as a result of his exposure to the Danish slave trade when he grew up on St. Croix.

During the Napoleonic wars, the British occupied the islands, first from 1801 to 1802, and thereafter, from 1807 to 1815. The political uncertainty resulting from wars in Europe, the abolition of slavery in 1848, the rise of beet sugar as competition to cane sugar, and several natural disasters, including drought and an earthquake, brought down the Danish sugar industry, leaving the islands in a perilous financial position.

The US Makes Its First Offer

At that point, prompted by Secretary of State William Seward, the United States made its initial proposal to acquire the Danish West Indies. Seward was a believer in expanding the territory of the United States, if only as protection against European influence in the Western hemisphere. He successfully purchased Alaska from Russia, but also favored the purchase of Baja California from Mexico, the purchase of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) from Spain, and the purchase of Hawaii as well.

During this period, he also was negotiating for the purchase of both Greenland and the Danish West Indies. With the cooperation of the Danish government, the United States Navy had utilized the harbor at St. Thomas for refitting and refueling its vessels during the Civil war. Seward saw the islands as essential to the defense of the United States. He also saw Greenland as essential, but considered the acquisition of Greenland to have the added benefit of hemming in Canada from three sides. Seward believed that this would inevitably result in Canada’s joining the United States.

Although negotiations over Greenland progressed almost to finality, the United States never made an offer. The country did make an offer for the Danish West Indies, and agreed with the Danes upon a price of $7.5 million in gold for St. Thomas and St. John. Denmark was ready to sell the islands as a result of their becoming such an economic burden. Denmark excluded St. Croix because France had a right of first refusal with respect to the sale of that island, and Denmark preferred to keep control of the islands rather than see St. Croix fall to the French. While the nations were ultimately able to reach a deal, negotiations had dragged on for an inordinate amount of time. They were delayed initially by the attempted assassination of Seward, who was attacked the same night that Abraham Lincoln was killed, and they were further sidelined by the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.

The Danish government eventually ratified the treaty authorizing the sale of the islands in 1867, with both houses of the Danish Parliament voting to approve. They conditioned ratification on a plebiscite to be held on the two islands. That occurred in January 1868, when the inhabitants of St. Thomas voted to approve the transaction by a vote of 1,039 to 22. The inhabitants of St. John voted to approve the deal unanimously. King Christian V signed the treaty at the end of January, just as Johnson’s Senate trial was to commence. Although Johnson was acquitted, the deal’s momentum stalled. In June of that year, the inhabitants of St. Croix petitioned to be included in the sale, and France gave assurances that it would not interfere with the sale. However, Seward refused to reopen the negotiations, figuring that to do so would kill any chance the treaty had of approval. Ultimately, the treaty was not ratified before the presidential election of Ulysses Grant. He had no interests in the acquisition of the islands and, despite Danish efforts to keep the deal alive, talks collapsed in 1870.

The abrupt about-face by the United States caused political turmoil in Denmark, just as Trump has caused today, and it resulted in the dismissal of the Danish cabinet. Danish advocates continued to try and revive the proposal, but their efforts were fruitless.

The US Makes Its Second Offer

Late in the 19^th century, US interest in acquiring the Danish West Indies revived. The catalyst for this revival was Alfred Thayer Mahan who, after the publication of his book, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, became the foremost American strategist of his time. In particular, he wielded great influence with his friend, Theodore Roosevelt. Mahan argued that, to protect the Panama Canal then under construction, St. Thomas was of vital strategic importance. He wrote in an article, "The Isthmus and Sea Power," published in 1893, that "St. Thomas, better than any other, represents the course from Europe to the Isthmus." The United States was particularly fearful of German influence, as rumors abounded that Germany would swap the province of Schleswig, taken from Denmark after that country’s disastrous war with Prussia and Austro-Hungary in 1864, for the islands.

Accordingly, in 1900, Roosevelt, now President, authorized renewed negotiations with Denmark to purchase the islands. This time it was the United States that was the motivated party. An agreement was reached in 1902, and the treaty was approved by Congress shortly thereafter. It was the Danes who caused the deal to fall apart. Denmark’s lower house, the Folketinget, approved the treaty, but the upper chamber, the Landstinget rejected it. Once again, the sale died.

The US Makes Its Third Offer

With the outbreak of World War I, United States renewed its interest in the Danish West Indies. This time, the threat that Germany might occupy the islands was no longer theoretical, but real. In the meantime, the Panama Canal had opened, also making concrete the threat to United States interests. The parties reached an agreement that was, this time approved by both chambers of the Danish government. In addition, the sale was approved by the Danish population by means of a plebiscite. The purchase price was $25 million in gold, significantly more than the price agreed upon in 1867. As an additional consideration for the Danes, the United States issued a Declaration to the Danes, a significant concession when viewed in the context of the Monroe Doctrine:

Secretary of State of the United States of America, duly authorized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.

Trump’s pronouncements concerning a possible takeover of Greenland by force would appear at odds with this treaty obligation.

Greenland and the Virgin Islands

There are some similarities between a proposed purchase of Greenland and that of the US Virgin Islands. For one, Greenland continues to be of strategic importance to the United States. Secondly, Greenland is undoubtedly a financial burden to Denmark, just as the West Indies were. The similarities end there, however.

First, Denmark’s connection to Greenland is far longer and far deeper than that to the Virgin Islands. For centuries, Greenland has been deemed an integral part of Denmark. Second, there is no support in either Denmark or Greenland for such a sale. Apart from the Danish government’s opposition to a sale, there is also no support for a sale among the people of Denmark or Greenland. This is in sharp contrast to the sale of the Virgin Islands, which was approved by plebiscites, both local and in Denmark. Third, America’s strategic interests are protected by the presence of military bases in Greenland.

While William Seward and Theodore Roosevelt were criticized as expansionist in their day, they pursued their goals through deal-making rather than through force or threats of force. To be sure, Roosevelt supported America’s taking by force Puerto Rico and the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War, but that was during an age of imperialism in which all of the great powers participated. Furthermore, he never suggested the taking of territory was to protect “the free world.”

Donald Trump considers himself the master of the deal. It remains to be seen whether he can pull this one off. Because if he cannot, we do not want to start another age of imperialism.