Summary
William H. Seward, the secretary of state, bought Alaska, a cold and mountainous area, from Russia in 1867 for 2¢ an acre, for a total of $7.2 million. This was also called "Seward's Folly" because people thought it was a mistake.
The Purchase Of Alaska
William H. Seward, the secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson, finalized the purchase of Alaska after negotiations with the Russian minister, Eduard de Stoeckl, in 1867. Stoeckl decided to sell Alaska for 2¢ an acre ($7.2 million total). Russia sold Alaska for a low price for two main reasons. First, they took poor care of it for the 100 years they had it, so it didn't make them much money; and secondly, they had just lost a war and needed money as soon as possible, which meant they had to sell for a lower price so the United States would buy it. After the treaty to buy Alaska was signed, it sparked a heated debate in the Senate. Some senators said that the territory was useless, which is what most American people thought as well—hence the name "Seward's Folly", but others believed it would be valuable due to trade opportunities with other countries. Those who opposed the purchase soon saw how great of a decision this so-called "useless territory" turned out to be.
Contributions to United States Expansion
When Alaska was added as a state in 1959, it added an astonishing 20% extra to the large amount of land that the United States already had. It was a valuable asset for trade, but there were many other benefits as well. It had a vast amount of wildlife, which mostly consisted of fish, and lots of natural resources such as wood and later gold was discovered.This made the United States a lot of money and land; this made the United States much more powerful. After gold was discovered, people started moving there to try and make money by finding some of it, but the people that failed just stayed and made good money from all of the natural Alaska had. The people who were opposed to the idea definitely noticed the long term benefits.
