Alaska Purchase

Setting the scene

The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of Russian America by the United States for $7.2 million, finalized on March 30, 1867, and formalized on October 18, 1867. Russia, fearing it could not defend Alaska against Britain (with whom it had fought the Crimean War) and needing money, offered to sell the territory. U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, an expansionist who believed in Manifest Destiny, negotiated the purchase. The treaty was signed in Washington at 4 a.m. on March 30 after all-night negotiations.

What happened

The purchase was initially mocked as 'Seward's Folly' or 'Seward's Icebox,' with critics arguing Alaska was a frozen wasteland worthless to the U.S. The House of Representatives initially refused to appropriate the funds, but eventually approved payment in July 1868. The formal transfer occurred on October 18, 1867, in Sitka, where Russian and American troops lowered and raised flags. The U.S. acquired 586,412 square miles—more than twice the size of Texas—for about 2 cents per acre.

Why it still matters

The purchase proved enormously valuable. Gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896, and later oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968. Alaska became a strategic military asset during World War II and the Cold War, and was admitted as the 49th state in 1959. The purchase eliminated Russian presence in North America, secured the Pacific Northwest for the U.S., and demonstrated Seward's vision of American expansion. What was mocked as folly became one of history's greatest land deals, providing vast natural resources and strategic position.

Background

Critics called it Sewards Folly.