Reference Entry
UNITED STATES AGREES TO PURCHASE ALASKA
Two years after the Civil War, Americans still debated how far their nation should extend and where strategic interests lay. On March 30th, 1867, Secretary of State William Seward signed a treaty with Russia to purchase Alaska, a vast, sparsely populated territory stretching from the Pacific into the Arctic. Critics mocked the deal as “Seward’s Folly,” seeing only ice and distance in exchange for seven point two million dollars in gold.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
United States agrees to purchase Alaska
Two years after the Civil War, Americans still debated how far their nation should extend and where strategic interests lay. On March 30th, 1867, Secretary of State William Seward signed a treaty with Russia to purchase Alaska, a vast, sparsely populated territory stretching from the Pacific into the Arctic. Critics mocked the deal as “Seward’s Folly,” seeing only ice and distance in exchange for seven point two million dollars in gold. Yet the military implications of controlling that coastline and its approaches were significant, even if they were not fully appreciated at the time. In the twentieth century, Alaska’s location would prove crucial for defending the North Pacific, hosting forts, airfields, and radar sites during the Second World War and the Cold War. The purchase added an enormous buffer and a future training and staging ground for United States forces operating in some of the harshest environments on earth.
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