Treaty of Cession

The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of 586,412 square miles of land by the United States from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. Russia offered to sell the territory due to the economic burden and logistical challenges of supplying it, especially after the costly Crimean War. Russia also saw potential future benefits in selling to the U.S. amid competition from the Hudson's Bay Company and increasing focus on Asian expansion.

The treaty was negotiated by William Henry Seward, U.S. Secretary of State, and Baron Eduard de Stoeckl, the Russian minister. Despite some public and political opposition, with the territory derisively called "Seward's Folly," the treaty was ratified, and the U.S. officially took possession on October 18, 1867. Alaska officially became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.12