The Purchase

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American Progress, a 1872 painting by John Gast, has come to embody the era's ideal of Manifest Destiny.

On the American side, several motivations were behind the decision to purchase Alaska. At the time, many Americans believed in the doctrine of "Manifest Destiny," which was the belief that the U.S. should expand across North America. Acquiring the vast territory of Alaska was a natural extension of this desire to grow the nation across the continent.

Seward and many other Americans also recognized that Asia would become an important trade market. Purchasing Alaska would give America an important base to extend trade and power into the Pacific. Another reason America purchased Alaska was to continue friendly relations with Russia. Russia had been one of the few European powers to support the North during the Civil War, and agreeing to buy Alaska was seen as doing a favor to the Russians, who wanted to sell it.

Alaska's vast territory also contained potential resources. While the Russian-American Company may have been losing money, there was no telling what future Americans could exploit from its forests, oceans, and mineral deposits. And the price of $7.2 million for the territory, which amounted to about two cents an acre, was a bargain (roughly $120 million in current dollars).

But the purchase was not without some controversy. Critics claimed Alaska was a land of little besides ice and snow, and derided the purchase as "Seward's Folly", "Walrussia", or "Seward's Icebox". Some newspapers called it a waste of taxpayer money for a "Polar bear garden".

Despite this criticism, most Americans supported the purchase and believed the U.S. would benefit significantly from owning Alaska. On April 7, 1867, the U.S. Senate voted 37 to 2 to ratify the purchase treaty. At that time, Alaska had a population of about 30,000 Alaskan Natives and 2,000 Russians and Creoles.

1867 cartoon lampooning purchase.

Original Caption-

Russian Stranger- "I say little boy, do you want to trade? I've got a fine lot of bears, seals, and icebergs--They're no use to me, I'll swap'em all for those boats you got" [Billy, like other foolish boys, jumps at the idea] (Billy refers to William Seward)

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