The Alaska Purchase: How the United States Acquired Russian America

On October 18, 1867, the United States formally took possession of Alaska from the Russian Empire in a transaction known as the Alaska Purchase—one of history's most consequential territorial acquisitions.

The Deal

• Price: $7.2 million (≈$150 million today; 2¢/acre)
• Negotiators: Secretary of State William H. Seward (US), Baron Eduard de Stoeckl (Russian Minister to US)
• Treaty signed: March 30, 1867; ratified by Senate 37-2 (April 9); House funded July 1868
• Transfer ceremony: Sitka (New Archangel), October 18, 1867—Russian flag lowered, US flag raised

Russian Motivations to Sell

• Financial strain: Crimean War (1853-56) debts; colonial administration costs
• Defensibility: Impossible to defend against British (Canada) or US expansion
• Declining fur trade: Sea otter depletion; profits fallen 90% from 1820s peak
• Strategic distraction: Focus on Amur River region, Central Asia, Balkans

American Motivations to Buy

• Manifest Destiny: Continental expansion ideology
• Resources: Whales, fish, timber, minerals (gold unknown but suspected)
• Strategic position: Pacific naval presence, Asian trade gateway
• Seward's vision: "Iceberg" as stepping stone to Arctic, Asia; anticipated Klondike gold (1896)

Contemporary Reaction

Critics dubbed it "Seward's Folly," "Seward's Icebox," "Walrussia," "Polar Bear Garden." Newspapers mocked buying a "frozen wilderness." Support came from West Coast merchants, expansionists, and those seeing Russian friendship value (Russia supported Union in Civil War).

Long-Term Significance

• Gold rushes: Juneau (1880), Klondike (1896), Nome (1898), Fairbanks (1902)—billions in gold
• Strategic WWII/Cold War: Aleutian campaign, Lend-Lease route, DEW Line, nuclear testing (Amchitka)
• Oil: Prudhoe Bay (1968)—North America's largest field; Trans-Alaska Pipeline (1977)
• Statehood: January 3, 1959 (49th state)
• Modern economy: Oil (85% state revenue), fishing, tourism, military, mining

Indigenous Perspective

Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Athabascan, Yup'ik, Inupiat peoples never ceded sovereignty. 1867 transfer ignored their title. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) addressed 44M acres/$962M but unresolved issues remain. "Purchase" was between imperial powers, not with land's inhabitants.