The Purchase of Russian Alaska

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Title

The Purchase of Russian Alaska

Description

Although the American purchase of Alaska occurred after the Civil War, the treaty came about as a result of the same diplomatic circumstances that brought about Russo-American cooperation during the Civil War. The antagonism between Russia and Britain had played a significant role in fostering Russia’s open diplomatic support for the Union, and fears of war over Poland had driven Russia to send its fleet on their 1863 visit to the United States.

In fact, Russia had been hoping to dispose of Alaska in some way even before the Civil War, out of fear that the United Kingdom could easily seize it.[1] Selling the territory to the United States, according to both Clay and the Russian minister to the United States, would in fact play a dual role in countering British power on the Pacific. In addition to keeping Alaska out of the hands of the British, the sale of Alaska may have been driven by the hope of “expulsion of England from the whole Pacific coast of North America.”[2] As with Russian alignment against Britain and France during the Civil War, the exigencies of geopolitics played a significant role in fostering this agreement over Alaska.

Famously, the purchase of Alaska by the United States was greeted with much derision at the time. Despite some public outcry over purchasing the “Russian Fairyland,”[3] the annexation of Alaska was indeed secured in 1867 for the sum of $7.2 million.[4]



[1] Benjamin Platt Thomas, Russo-American Relations, 1815-1867. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1930), 145.

[2] Ibid, 165n66.

[3] Thomas A. Bailey. America Faces Russia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950), 103.

[4] Ibid¸ 102.

Creator

Samuel Coffin

Source

Thomas A. Bailey. America Faces Russia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950.

Benjamin Platt Thomas, Russo-American Relations, 1815-1867. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1930.

Date

1867

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