Editing Danish West Indies (section)

===Emancipation===
[[File:EmancipationsplakatDWI1848.jpg|thumb|Emancipation proclamation, 1848]]

By the 1830s and 1840s, the [[sugar beet]] industry had reduced the profitability of sugarcane. The British [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]] [[Emancipation of the British West Indies|emancipated slaves in the neighboring British West Indies]], fully effective as of 1840. Abolition in the Danish West Indies was discussed, with [[Peter von Scholten|Governor von Scholten]], who had been seeking reforms since 1830, in favor of [[emancipation]].<ref name="history.dk">{{cite web|url=http://www.virgin-islands-history.dk/eng/vi_hist.asp|title=A Brief History of the Danish West Indies|publisher=Danish National Archives|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=4 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204103732/http://www.virgin-islands-history.dk/eng/vi_hist.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="FreedomWeekProclamation">{{cite executive order | number=2017-06-26 | url=http://aphj2sd.com/files/documents/2017-Virgin-Islands-Freedom-Week.pdf | title=Virgin Islands Freedom Week | date= 26 June 2017 | language=English | post=Governor of the United States Virgin Islands | access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> Scholarly consensus suggests von Scholten's views were influenced by his [[Free people of color|free-colored]] mistress Anna Heegaard.<ref name="stcroixlandmarks.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.stcroixlandmarks.org/history/anna-heegaard/|title=Anna Heegaard, mistress of Governor General Peter von Scholten|publisher=St. Croix Landmarks Society|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704055102/http://www.stcroixlandmarks.org/history/anna-heegaard/|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Dookhan | first1 = Isaac | year = 1994 |orig-year=1974 | title = A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States |url={{GBurl|XxT8qxBjwoUC|pg=PA173}} | location = Kingston, Jamaica | publisher = Canoe Press | page = 173 | isbn = 9789768125057}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Hall| first1 = Neville A. T.| year = 1992| editor1-last = Higman| editor1-first = Barry W.| title = Slave Society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D5maZy-O5GcC | location = Mona, Jamaica| publisher = University of the West Indies Press | page = 175| isbn = 9789764100294| access-date = 7 September 2017}}</ref>

[[Christian VIII of Denmark|King Christian VIII]] supported the gradual abolition of slavery and ruled in 1847 that every child born of an unfree woman should be free from birth, and that slavery would end entirely after 12 years. That ruling satisfied neither the slaves nor the plantation owners.<ref name="history.org1">{{cite web|url=https://www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/history/slavery/the-emancipation-of-the-enslaved-in-1848/|title=The emancipation of the enslaved in 1848|publisher=Danish National Archives|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803000738/https://www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/history/slavery/the-emancipation-of-the-enslaved-in-1848/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Meanwhile, on 27 April 1848, France signed a law to abolish slavery in their colonies within two months, but a slave insurrection on [[History of Martinique#1815-1899|Martinique]] led to immediate abolition on Martinique on 22 May and [[Guadeloupe]] on 27 May.<ref name="slaveryandremembrance.org">{{cite web|url=http://slaveryandremembrance.org/partners/partner/?id=P0054|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704055059/http://slaveryandremembrance.org/partners/partner/?id=P0054|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 July 2020|title=Monument to Abolition of Slavery|publisher=Slavery and Remembrance|access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>

The slaves in the Danish West Indies did not want to wait for their freedom, either. On 2 July 1848, freedman John Gottlieb (also known as "Moses Gottlieb" or "General Buddhoe") and Admiral Martin King (among others) led a slave rebellion, taking over [[Frederiksted, U.S. Virgin Islands|Frederiksted]], Saint Croix.<ref name="history.org2">{{cite web|url=https://www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/timeline/the-slave-rebellion-on-st-croix-and-emancipation/|title=The slave rebellion on St. Croix and Emancipation|publisher=Danish National Archives|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731003106/https://www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/timeline/the-slave-rebellion-on-st-croix-and-emancipation/|url-status=dead}}</ref> That evening, hundreds of slaves gathered peaceably outside [[Fort Frederik]] refusing to work the next day and demanding freedom. By 10 a.m. the following morning, about 8,000 slaves had joined.<ref name="slaverebellion.info">{{cite web|url=http://slaverebellion.info/index.php?page=slave-resistances-in-latin-america-2|title=Slave Resistances in Latin America|publisher=African American Information Service|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704063555/http://slaverebellion.info/index.php?page=slave-resistances-in-latin-america-2|url-status=dead}}</ref>[[File:Høgensborg, Plantation, St. Croix, Danish West Indies.jpg|thumb|The Høgensborg estate on Sankt Croix, 1833]]

[[File:FreedomStatueCruzBay.jpg|thumb|The conch blower in the "Freedom Statue" depicts the slaves' call to action in 1848]]

On the afternoon of 3 July 1848 (now known as [[Emancipation Day#US Virgin Islands – July 3|Emancipation Day]]), Peter von Scholten, in order to end the rebellion and prevent bloodshed and damages, went to Frederiksted and announced an immediate and total emancipation of all slaves. He then went to [[Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands|Christiansted]], where a second rebellion had formed and some fires had been set, and had notices disseminated to the other islands. General Buddhoe worked with the governor and other officials to end the riots and violence that had broken out on a few estates.<ref name="aphj2sd.com">{{cite web|url=http://aphj2sd.com/general-buddhoe~liberator-of-the-virgin-islands|title=General Buddhoe~Liberator of the Virgin Islands|publisher=A People's Historical Journey to Self Determination and Decolonization 2020|access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>

In the aftermath, Buddhoe is said to have been jailed and exiled to [[Trinidad]].<ref name="aphj2sd.com" /> Governor von Scholten also fared poorly. As governor, he did not actually have the authority to end slavery, but had found himself in a situation where he needed to take immediate action that could not wait for communicating with Denmark. For his actions, he was called back to Denmark to face a trial for treason. He was first denied his pension, but later cleared of the charges.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bricka |first1=C.F. |title=Dansk Biografisk Lexikon |date=1901 |publisher=Gyldendal |location=Copenhagen |pages=255–256 |url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/}}</ref>

When Denmark abolished slavery in 1848, many plantation owners wanted full reimbursement on the grounds that their assets were damaged by the loss of the slaves, and by the fact that they would have to pay for labor in the future. The Danish government paid fifty dollars for every slave the plantation owners had owned and recognized that the slaves' release had caused a financial loss for the owners.<ref name="SurtSødt.dk"/>