The Danish period: 1852–1917 The roots of the modern legislature date to the passage of the Colonial Law in 1852 during the
Danish colonial period. The law created a Colonial Assembly for the
Danish West Indies, as well as the appointment of a
vice-regent serving as the colony's
governor executive, serving on behalf of the
King of Denmark. Despite the name, the Colonial Assembly acted more as an advisory body than a true legislature. Vice-regents continued to reserve the right to reject or amend any
law they did not see fit. A further Colonial Law coming in 1863 broke the Assembly into two parts, creating a colonial council for the newly created
St. Thomas and
St. John Municipality, and a separate colonial council for the
St. Croix Municipality. The 1863 law provided the councils to combine into a single legislature when called upon by the Vice-regent or by legislators themselves, and gave legislators greater say in the colony's finances. However, the
Danish monarch still reserved the right to pick several members of the councils, giving
Copenhagen a continued say in the colony's legislative affairs. The monarch-appointed vice-regent and the king also continued to reserve the right to pass or deny any colonial bills brought upon their desks. The
voting franchise of this period remained low, hovering just under six percent.
The American period: 1917–present Upon the
U.S. purchase of the islands from
Denmark in 1917 by fears of
German expansion into the
Caribbean, the renamed
U.S. Virgin Islands government underwent a gradual overhaul. From 1917 to 1931, the
U.S. Navy administered the islands, with a Navy officer serving gubernatorial duties, while the colonial councils for the territory's two municipalities created by the
Danes fifty years earlier remained with little change. Islanders were granted
American citizenship in 1927, and after popular discontent with incompetent naval rule, the islands came under the supervision of the federal
Department of the Interior in 1931. The
U.S. Congress's passage of the
1936 Organic Act brought the greatest amount of self-government the islands had ever known. For the first time, all islanders above the age of 21 enjoyed
universal suffrage. The colonial councils—now municipal councils—could combine when desired to form a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly now could override gubernatorial vetoes with a two-thirds majority, a parliamentary procedure endowed to the
U.S. Congress and various
state legislatures. The federal
Congress and
President, however, continued to reserve the right to
veto territorial legislation.
Modern legislature The
Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands of 1954 dissolved the two Municipal Councils, creating a permanent unified and
unicameral Legislature of the Virgin Islands. A revision in the territory's constitution in 1966 increased the number of legislators from its original amount of 11 to 15. Today, the Legislature of the Virgin Islands is a territorial legislative body with the same rights and powers comparable to that of many
state legislatures within the
United States.
Legislature Building The senate's home is the Legislature Building, a historic building built in 1828 as Danish police barracks, modified extensively in 1884, which is included in the
Charlotte Amalie Historic District. ==Legislature==