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The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $22.5 billion in 2023).
Alaska Purchase, acquisition in 1867 by the U.S. from Russia of 586,412 square miles of land at the northwestern tip of the North American continent, comprising the current U.S. state of Alaska. The $7.2 million purchase was orchestrated by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward and branded ‘Seward’s Folly.’.
With a stroke of a pen, Tsar Alexander II had ceded Alaska, his country’s last remaining foothold in North America, to the United States for US$7.2 million.
The territory, held by Russia since 1741, was considered an economic liability, and in 1866 it was offered for sale. Pres. Andrew Johnson ’s secretary of state, William Seward, negotiated its purchase for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre. Critics labeled the purchase “Seward’s Folly.”
To most everyone, the United States has owned Alaska since the Treaty of Cession was signed on March 30, 1867, when Russia agreed to sell its North American colony for $7.2 million. An established fact, no doubt about it.
Alaska became the 49th state of the US on January 3rd, 1959. Despite its barely tapped mineral riches, it is claimed by some economists that Alaska’s tax revenues and resource royalties have never exceeded the cost to the federal government of governing a largely untamed territory of this size.
The U.S. said yes to that decision about 150 years ago, when it bought Alaska from the Russians. The purchase price was actually $7.2 million, or 2 cents per acre (which equates to $113 million, or 30 cents per acre in today’s money).
On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska. For less than 2 cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles.
On this day in 1867, the United States took possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia. The handover occurred in a ceremony in Sitka. The transfer price was $7.2 million,...
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.