Alaska Purchase
1867 · 19th Century
The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million, approximately two cents per acre. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the treaty with Russian Minister Eduard de Stoeckl. Russia sought to divest the territory due to declining fur trade revenues and the difficulty of defending a distant colony against British expansion from Canada. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on April 9, 1867, by a vote of 37 to 2. The acquisition added 586,412 square miles to U.S. territory.
Key Figures
William H. SewardEdouard de StoecklAndrew JohnsonAlexander II of RussiaCharles Sumner
Locations
Washington, D.C.Alaska TerritorySitkaSaint Petersburg
Topics
AlaskaRussiaunited statesTreatyPurchase
Connected Events — 2 Connections
The sale of Alaska removed Russia's most vulnerable and expensive territorial liability, inadvertently allowing Alexander II to focus resources on domestic reforms that ultimately provoked the revolutionary movements leading to his assassination Assassination of Alexander II
Established the precedent and constitutional framework for major territorial acquisitions through treaty purchase rather than conquest, providing the legal and political template Seward used for Alaska Louisiana Purchase
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