A model of this story appeared in NCS’s What Matters publication. To get it in your inbox, join free here.
President Donald Trump has made very clear his want to “acquire” Greenland from Denmark, irrespective of the injury to NATO or to the US alliance with Europe.
What the White House has not carried out is spell out how Trump’s acquisition would happen. While Trump has not dominated out utilizing the navy, it will be an unprecedented use of the trendy navy to invade and declare for the US a semiautonomous territory regardless of home and worldwide opposition. Two exceptions are the 1893 US-backed coup in Hawaii, one thing for which the US government apologized in 1993, and the bloody three-year Philippine-American War in 1899, when the US put down a riot by Filipinos after it took management of the Philippines from Spain.
The textual content of the Constitution and the instance of historical past counsel that for a extra peaceable possibility, Trump would wish to ratify a treaty with Denmark and Greenland to purchase the world’s largest island.
Ratifying a treaty, in response to the Constitution, requires 67 senators, which in right this moment’s political setting means Trump must persuade Republicans and a few Democrats to again him. He would additionally must squeeze cash for the buy out of Congress. Meanwhile, some senators from each events have introduced legislation to protect NATO by blocking Trump from buying Greenland.
A short historical past of the US shopping for land from Denmark
Trump appears unlikely to let opposition in Congress get him down, so think about the 50-year odyssey required for the US to acquire what right this moment are referred to as the US Virgin Islands … from, coincidentally, Denmark.
The US, led by then-Secretary of State William Seward, realized the strategic significance of the islands throughout the Civil War and tried to buy the islands from a keen Denmark for $7.5 million. The two sides negotiated a treaty, which was accepted by a vote in Denmark.
But the 1867 sale didn’t finally undergo, according to a US State Department history, as a result of the Senate didn’t ratify the treaty. Without going too deep into the historic particulars, senators have been indignant at Seward over his assist for the impeached President Andrew Johnson.
Today Trump has neither a purchase order value nor the keen cooperation of Denmark or Greenland, a lot much less a keen Senate.
It took three tries for the US to purchase the Virgin Islands from Denmark
In the early a part of the twentieth century, the US Senate did approve a treaty with Denmark to purchase the islands, however this time the deal failed as a result of the Danish parliament didn’t signal on.
It was not till World War 1 loomed that the US basically threatened to occupy the islands. That menace was sufficient to make the sale occur, for $25 million in gold coin. The Senate approved the treaty in September of 1916 after the Danish parliament, its king, and a plebiscite (which is a elaborate phrase for a direct election for all eligible voters) additionally accepted. No vote was held for the islanders to weigh in, in response to the State Department historical past.
The Constitution offers the president the energy “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur….”
Two-thirds of senators is a excessive bar — 67 if all senators are current and voting, which suggests Trump would wish the assist of some Democrats. But even some Republicans — amongst them Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, which the US purchased from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867 — have expressed grave doubts about Trump’s Greenland plan.
The requirement of 67 senators to approve treaties could have one thing to do with the proven fact that presidents in latest a long time have entered into agreements with international international locations with out providing them to the Senate for approval. These sorts of agreements are nonetheless binding below worldwide legislation, however they haven’t been used to acquire territory.
The Constitution additionally gives Congress, not the president, the energy to eliminate and handle federal lands and territories, though the government department conducts a lot of that enterprise on a day after day foundation.
The Louisiana Purchase and Thomas Jefferson’s instance
When President Thomas Jefferson doubled the measurement of the US with the Louisiana Purchase (thanks, France), he nervous he was exceeding his constitutional authority since the Constitution says nothing about buying lands. But he despatched the settlement to the Senate anyway, and it was accepted.
In separate legislation, legislators accepted the creation of a particular inventory to finance the $15 million buy value. That looks like a steal right this moment for land that will develop into Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. It’s additionally onerous to think about the individuals in these states talking French.
It took one other treaty — the Adams-Onis treaty, this time with Spain and finalized in 1821 — for the US to make clear the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase. The US bought Florida and Spain got Texas, which it held until 1836.
Seward’s follies virtually included Greenland
Around the identical time he was attempting to purchase the Virgin Islands, Seward efficiently purchased Alaska after the Senate accepted that buy from Russia. It was derided by critics at the time as “Seward’s folly,” however has aged extraordinarily properly given the discovery of gold and oil there.
NCS’s Lex Harvey notes that Seward additionally tried to acquire Greenland. Later, the US thought-about a commerce with Denmark to acquire Greenland, however the effort didn’t go wherever.
Grover Cleveland revoked his predecessor’s annexation treaty
President Benjamin Harrison signed a treaty to annex Hawaii after a bunch of US businessmen attempting to keep away from tariffs launched a coup in the Eighteen Nineties. But the Senate didn’t think about it as a result of it was withdrawn after Grover Cleveland, the solely president in addition to Trump to serve nonconsecutive phrases, reclaimed the White House in 1893. Hawaii wouldn’t be formally annexed till William McKinley took workplace.
Not included in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the struggle with Spain and netted the US the Philippines and Puerto Rico, was the sale of Cuba to the US. Americans had supported Cuba in its riot in opposition to Spain and lawmakers even handed laws promising to not exert management over Cuba after the struggle.
The US instantly broke that promise, nonetheless, and occupied Cuba for the first of several times beginning in 1899. US Lawmakers handed laws — the Platt Amendment — that gave the US paternalist management over Cuba and led to the institution of navy bases, together with Guantanamo Bay.
The US navy is already in Greenland with an choice to develop
Under current agreements with Denmark and Greenland, the US has the skill to drastically enhance its navy presence in Greenland, however Trump has mentioned he would like to personal Greenland.
Any such possession would require the assent of Greenlanders below the UN constitution – though Trump could not assume that worldwide legislation applies to the US – however he could have extra hassle arguing the Constitution doesn’t, and it has required Senate approval for the acquisition of territories for a whole bunch of years.