William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
Abstract
As the United States prepared to enter World War I, it secured another strategic territorial holding in the Caribbean. Six days before declaring war on Germany, the United States purchased the Virgin Islands (USVI) from Denmark—not for economic development or the welfare of its people, but as a military asset. St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John became a strategic outpost for naval dominance and national security.
Like other unincorporated U.S. territories, the USVI’s governance was shaped by imperial ambitions and reinforced through legal structures that preserved federal dominance. In practice, this created a system of colonial rule in which political and economic power remained concentrated in Congress. Although formal colonial rule ended, the mechanisms sustaining political subordination and economic dependence remained intact.
This Note argues that the acquisition of the USVI was more than a wartime necessity; it was an assertion of imperial power. The islands’ current territorial status is not merely a neutral administrative framework but a direct extension of imperial governance. Through congressional control under the Territorial Clause and federal oversight of key economic and political matters, the United States has preserved a system that constrains the territory’s capacity for genuine self-determination. This Note examines the historical and legal foundations of that system and its modern implications, demonstrating how the USVI’s status reflects the enduring costs of American imperialism.