Embedded Files
4.1.3.wavThe treaty Seward and the Russian minister negotiated never mentioned the name "Alaska." It referred only to "the Russian lands on the North American continent." The colony, which had been known as Russian-America, now needed a new name. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a key supporter of the purchase, proposed one. "The name should come from the country itself," Sumner said during a three-hour speech to the U.S. Senate urging for the treaty's approval. It should be an indigenous name, he said. "Happily such a name exists, as proper in sound as in origin." It was the word Aleuts used to refer to the mainland, "Alaska."
The US $7.2 million check used to pay for Alaska
Sumner said that in addition to a new name, the days of the week would have to be adjusted. Under the Russians, Alaska was one day ahead of the United States "so that their Sunday is our Saturday, and the other days of the week are in corresponding discord. This must be rectified according to the national meridian so that there shall be the same Sunday for all and the other days of the week shall be in corresponding harmony."
But far more important than a name or the days of the week was providing the democratic form of government that existed in the United States. "Bestow such a government, and you will give what is better than all you can receive, whether quintals of fish, sands of gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory," Sumner told his fellow senators.
The United States bought the land, adopted the name, and adjusted the calendar. But it was not until statehood, nearly a century later, that the people of Alaska would have the representative government that Sumner imagined.
To navigate through the textbook, click on the next page button or go to the navigation menu on the top left.
Report abuse