In the territorial expansion remembered by America250, the United States paid $7.2 million for Alaska in 1867.
The purchase agreement transferred Alaska from the Russian Empire to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the deal with Russia’s minister in Washington, Eduard de Stoeckl. The treaty was signed on March 30, 1867, and the Senate ratified it on May 15.
U.S. sovereignty became effective on October 18, 1867, a date now marked annually as Alaska Day. The purchase price worked out to roughly two cents per acre, prompting critics to call the acquisition “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox.”
Those nicknames reflected contemporary doubts about Alaska’s value, but the territory later proved rich in natural resources and strategically important. Alaska became the 49th U.S. state in 1959. The purchase should not be confused with the Louisiana Purchase, which involved France and occurred in 1803.