<P> The United States ' first secretary in London , Henry White attempted to purchase the islands from Denmark in 1899 to resist European incursions into the Americas . The sale was unsuccessful and White attributed the failure to the influence of Kaiser Wilhelm II of the ascendent German Empire . During World War I , the fear of rising German influence in the Caribbean region prompted the President Woodrow Wilson to assert the Roosevelt Corollary in Haiti and the Dominican Republic . </P>
<P> The United States ' first secretary in London , Henry White attempted to purchase the islands from Denmark in 1899 to resist European incursions into the Americas . The sale was unsuccessful and White attributed the failure to the influence of Kaiser Wilhelm II of the ascendent German Empire . During World War I , the fear of rising German influence in the Caribbean region prompted the President Woodrow Wilson to assert the Roosevelt Corollary in Haiti and the Dominican Republic . </P>
why did the us buy the virgin islands
why did the us buy the virgin islands
to resist European incursions into the Americas
to resist European incursions into the Americas