History.com has an article about buying Alaska:
On 18 October 1867, the US formally took possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for just over seven million dollars, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated, and difficult to defend, to the US rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the US, Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March of 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase Seward’s Folly and Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden, among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson’s own unpopularity. As the seventeenth president, Johnson battled with radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868, but acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska’s Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the forty-ninth state on 3 January 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, a quarter percent of America’s oil and over fifty percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means “great land”. Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward’s Day, observed on the last Monday in March, celebrates the 30 March 1867, signing of the land treaty between the US and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed on 18 October, marking the anniversary of the formal land transfer.
Rico says we screwed the Russians on the deal.
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