| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
 View text |
Certificate of Exchange
Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872
CREATED/PUBLISHED
Washington, DC: June 20, 1867
NOTES
Item digitized by the National Archives and Records Administration. Used with permission.
In 1866 the Russian government offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward, enthusiastic about the prospect of American expansion, negotiated the deal for the Americans. Eduard de Stoekl, Russian Minister to the United States, negotiated for the Russians. On March 30, 1867, the two parties agrees that the United States would pay Russia .2 million for the territory of Alaska. For less than 2 cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles. Opponents of the Alaska Purchase persisted in calling it "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox" until 1896, when the great Klondike Gold Rush convinced even the harshest critics that Alaska was a valuable addition to the United States. The purchase of Alaska from Russia cleared the way for the admission of the first noncontiguous terrritory to the United States.
NARA contact information: National Archives Building, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408 PHONE: 202-501-5385, FAX: 202-208-1903, EMAIL: inquire@nara.gov
RELATED NAMES
Stoeckl, Eduard de, baron
MEDIUM
paper, pen and ink, wax seals
REPOSITORY
National Archives and Records Administration. Old Military and Civil Records LICON, Textual Archives Services Division (NWCTB). Washington, DC 20408.
DIGITAL ID
mtfxtx u11846 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/mtfxtx.u11846
RELATED DIGITAL ITEMS
(Meeting of Frontiers: Siberia, Alaska, and the American West - "Selected Manuscript Items" Collection Description)
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |