Treaty with Russia for the Purchase of Alaska
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement
to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The
Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary
of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United
States Edouard de Stoeckl. Critics of the deal to purchase
Alaska called it "Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s
Icebox." Opposition to the purchase of Alaska subsided
with the Klondike Gold Strike in 1896.
Library of
Congress Web Site | External Web
Sites | Selected
Bibliography
An
American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides
and Other Printed Ephemera
In 1868, Joseph
Wilson, Commissioner of the General Land Office,
wrote a letter to Nathaniel Banks, Chairman of the
House Committee of Foreign Affairs, outlining his support
for the purchase of Alaska.
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The
Senate ratified the Treaty with Russia on April 9,
1867, by a vote of 37 to 2. However, the appropriation
of money needed to purchase Alaska was delayed by more
than a year due to opposition in the House of Representatives.
The House
finally approved the appropriation on July 14, 1868,
by a vote of 113 to 48.
Search
in the 40th Congress using the word "Alaska"
to find additional Congressional documents on this topic.
The
Nineteenth Century in Print
Includes a speech
by Senator Charles Sumner from 1867 on the purchase
of Alaska. In addition, this collection contains an
article in Harper's New Monthly
Magazine on the history
of Alaska
during the years 1867 to 1877.
Jump
Back in Time: Purchase of Alaska, March 30, 1867.
Meeting
of Frontiers
A bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library
that tells the story of the American exploration and
settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and
settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the
meeting of the Russian-American
frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
March
30, 1867
Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase
Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million on March 30, 1867.
Our
Documents, Check for the Purchase of Alaska, National
Archives and Records Administration
Purchase
of Alaska,
Department of State
Farrar, Victor John. The Annexation
of Russian America to the United States. New York: Russell & Russell,
1966. [Catalog
Record]
Hinckley, Ted C. The Americanization
of Alaska, 1867-1897.
Palo Alto, Calif.: Pacific Books, 1972. [Catalog
Record]
Jensen, Ronald J. The Alaska Purchase
and Russian-American Relations. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975.
[Catalog
Record]
Kushner, Howard I. Conflict on the
Northwest Coast: American-Russian Rivalry in the Pacific
Northwest, 1790-1867. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975. [Catalog
Record]
Clinton, Susan. The Story of Seward's
Folly. Chicago:
Childrens Press, 1987. [Catalog
Record]
Cohen, Daniel. The Alaska Purchase. Brookfield, Conn.:
Millbrook Press, 1996. [Catalog
Record]
Fremon, David K. The Alaska Purchase
in American History.
Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1999. [Catalog
Record]
Kent, Zachary. William Seward: The Mastermind of the Alaska
Purchase. Berkeley
Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2001. [Catalog
Record]
|
The
Library of Congress >> Especially
for Researchers >> Virtual
Programs & Services
Top
of Page
