The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. The agreement was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and Russian diplomat Eduard de Stoeckl during the presidency of Andrew Johnson.
The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., in the early morning of March 30, 1867, after an all-night negotiating session. The United States agreed to pay Russia $7.2 million—about two cents per acre. The Senate ratified the treaty on May 15, and the formal transfer took place in Sitka on October 18, now observed as Alaska Day.
Russia wanted to sell because its North American territory was difficult to defend and had limited Russian settlement. Seward believed Alaska could support trade and strengthen American influence in the Pacific. Critics mocked the deal as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox,” but later gold, oil, strategic advantages, and Alaska’s eventual statehood changed its reputation. Alaska became a U.S. state in 1959.