A man's word is honored, and business can be done on a handshake, though there is often a cunning eye out for one's own advantage. They keep their homes freshly painted, their yards raked, and their children scrubbed and obedient. They are fully conscious of both the right and the responsibility to make what they can out of their own lives, and do not look to government, the church, or anywhere outside of the community for the solutions to their problems. They don't hesitate to take what they can get, but they don't expect to be taken care of by far away government agencies. What little class distinction exists between them is economic, not social, and is therefore subject to change at any moment.
Family life means a great deal, and they have a keen sense of family history.
This similarity to traditional American values results from a parallel experience. Both groups descend from pioneering immigrants who carved a place for themselves in a hostile wilderness, and evolved ethical practices to suit the circumstances. A New World, whether insular or continental, required new solutions to the eternal questions of a structure for society, and a distant disinterested Motherland left self-determination as the only alternative. After the Second World War, St. Barths was in pretty rough economic shape, and France wasn't offering any help. The Virgin Islands were growing rapidly and badly needed competent and industrious workers.