The formerly very lucrative activities in the West Indies became a losing proposition from the middle of the 1800s. Several parties began suggesting selling the colony.
The U.S. offers to buy the islands
When Denmark was weakened by the loss of South Jutland in 1864, the U.S. approached the Danish government offering to buy the islands – and to avoid others beating them to the punch. After initial negotiations, the two governments agreed on a sale price of 7.5 million dollars. However, it was decided that first there had to be a referendum on the islands in favor of or against the sale.
The U.S. withdraws from the transaction
At the referendum, there was an overwhelming majority in favor of replacing the Danish national flag, the Dannebrog, with the Stars and Stripes, and the Danish government was eager to sell the islands. In the U.S., problems soon arose. Congress and the President were stalling, and after a while it became clear that they were not going to buy the colony. In 1870, the Senate declared definitively that the Americans did not want to buy the islands in the West Indies from Denmark.
