Seward's Folly

Sorry about no post yesterday but the internet and cell phones decided to be snarky and its finally up enough for me to get this written.

 This past Monday was the official day to celebrate the purchase of Alaska from Russia.  It's named after the gentleman who arranged the purchase.

He negotiated with Russia and at 4:00 on March 30, 1867, the United States and Russia signed a deal where the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.

At the time, most people did not consider this a good purchase because Alaska was thought of as a "Frozen Ice Box". This was often referred to as "Seward's Folly".  Many satirist had a great time creating cartoons such as one where Seward is rubbing some Russian Salve on President Andrew Johnson's head.  In the background, there is a map of Alaska showing Uncle Sam trudging across the state planting United State Flags across the mountain tops.

Russia was open to the offer because they were not sure they could defend Alaska against Great Britain because at the time, Great Britain controlled Canada.  In addition, the Russian company who ran Alaska was low on money so in March of 1867, the Russian Minister contacted Seward to see if the United States wanted to purchase the land.

Russia had been farming Alaska for its furs they could take back and sell to their own population.  At one point they settle in part of California to grow grains to ship back to Alaska to support themselves. Unfortunately, it wasn't cost efficient. So when Russia approached Seward, he offered them $5 million but the Russians wanted more and the price rose to $7 million.  At the last minute, several concerned Russian officials expressed their feelings and the price went up to $7.2 million.

The proposal was signed on March 30, 1867 but it was not approved by Congress until April 9th.  President Johnson added his signature to the document on May 28th but the official transfer did not occur until October 18, 1867.

The $7.2 million broke down to about $0.02 per acre and if out into today's dollars, we would have laid out $120 million.  This ended Russia's expansion into the Americas and was the United States first step into a presence in the Pacific region.  Although most Alaskan's are aware of this, they are not aware that Russian had approached the United States back in 1859, offering Alaska for sale but the Civil War prevented the purchase at this time.

The United States government didn't pay any attention to the state until gold was discovered in 1896 and then it suddenly gained everyones attention as thousands rushed north, following their dreams to become rich.

One of these days, I'll share more about the development of Alaska. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading this.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.