Alaska Purchase from Russia

After its loss to Great Britain during the Crimean War of 1853 to 1856, Russian officials feared losing their remote and weakly-defended Alaska territory to further British annexation, at the same time fearing their loss of the territory to the same brand of American expansionism that saw the loss of Texas from Mexico.

Purchase of Alaska from Russia

In response, Russia’s minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, commenced negotiations with pro-expansionist Secretary of State William H. Seward, but the American public believed Alaska to be a frozen swatch of wasteland. When the U.S. formally took possession of Alaska on October 18th, 1867, critics were quick to call it “Seward’s Folly” or “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” due to the latter’s broad unpopularity amongst American voters.

The purchase added 586,412 square miles to the United States—nearly twice the size of Texas—all at a cost of $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre.

Alaska’s Bountiful Resources

Public opinion would shift dramatically when gold was discovered in 1899, sparking a gold rush that exposed fortune seekers to temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The territory achieved statehood on January 3rd, 1959, which today accounts for more than 25 percent of American oil extraction and over 50 percent of all seafood consumed in the United States. While Alaska comprises the largest state by landmass, it sports a hardy population of only 732,000 people, with more than half that number living in the Anchorage metro area alone.

Alaskan Holidays

Each year, Alaskans celebrate the Alaska Purchase with two official state holidays—Seward’s Day, observed on the last Monday of March, which marks the signing of the land agreement between the U.S. and Russia, while October 18th celebrates the anniversary of the formal land transfer, making the Alaska Purchase, yet another massive acquisition in a nation’s full embrace of Manifest Destiny.