latter's proclamation that has been preserved. Other examples could be cited, such as
the popular struggle led by Mary Thomas (more popularly known as "Queen Mary")
that led to the abolition of the Labor Act of 1849, or the free speech efforts of Rothschild
Francis and his concern for general political reform that were related to the adoption of
the Organic Act of 1936.

 There are technical shortcomings that should also be noted. While every effort
was made to locate the original official sources of the documents represented here, it
was not always possible or practical to do so. For example, the Charter of March 11,
1671 was taken from the appendix of Westergaard's The Danish West Indies
Under Company Rule (1917). The Danish Colonial Law of 1852 was reprinted in
an English translation in the local newspaper of record of the time, The
St. Thomas Tidende. The Executive Order of 1931 establishing civilian rule was
found in the Bough and Macridis book previously cited. The sources for all the
documents are indicated in the text.

 Another shortcoming of which the reader should be aware is that in several
 cases the original documents have been amended, so that they no longer serve as an
 accurate guide to their present content. William Boyer, in his commentary, notes that
 the Act conferring United States Citizenship (1927) had to be amended in 1932 in
 order to correct omissions in the original legislation. So, too, the 1954 Organic Act
 has been amended many times, but only the most historically important changes, such
 as the Elected Governor Act of 1968, the Congressional Delegate Act of 1972, and the
 Constitutional Authorization Act of 1976, are included here. Our main purpose was not
 to reprint every document that related to the political and constitutional development of
 the Virgin Islands, but only the most central ones. We welcome any suggestions for
 additional documents from readers of this publication for inclusion in a revised future
 edition. Since the publication is stored in a computer memory, it would not be difficult
 to periodically up-date the collection.

 Certain editorial decisions were made in reproducing the documents that need
 to be discussed. Where obvious typographical or spelling errors existed in the
 original, they were corrected. Wherever there was the slightest doubt about whether
 an error was intentional or unintentional, the original material was retained. In
 addition, ellipses were used in some documents, such as the Organic Act of 1954, to
 remove amended materials that were not part of the original. Since the Organic Act
 was taken from the Virgin Islands Code printed in 1967, many annotations were
 made indicating subsequent actions that needed to be excised.

 Finally, the only judicial decisions that are contained in this publication are
 found in the appendix, preceded by a reprinted introductory article by William Boyer.
 The Insular Cases, particularly Downes v. Bidwell (1901), are of obvious historical
 importance because of their enunciation of the unincorporated territory doctrine which