The United States paid Russia $7.2 million to acquire Alaska in 1867.
Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the treaty with Russian diplomat Eduard de Stoeckl. The agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1867, and the Senate ratified it on May 15. American sovereignty formally took effect on October 18, when the transfer ceremony occurred in Sitka.
At the time, Russia viewed its North American colony as difficult to defend and costly to supply, especially during tensions with Britain. Seward believed Alaska could support American trade and strategic influence in the Pacific. Critics mocked the deal as “Seward's Folly” and “Seward's Icebox,” but the territory later proved valuable for its natural resources and strategic location.
The purchase price was about two cents per acre by contemporary calculations. Alaska remained a U.S. territory for decades before becoming the forty-ninth state in 1959. Its acquisition is distinct from the Louisiana Purchase, which involved France and occurred 64 years earlier.