The Purchase of Alaska
Alaska is the biggest state in the United States today. It is a major part of the U.S economy simply by it's abundance in fossil fuels, valuable metals, and being a tourist attraction. If you think about it, our country would not be the same if Alaska wasn't part of our 50 states.
The Crimean War between Britain and Russia between 1853-1856 really dented Russia financially. They struggled for years and they needed to make money somehow. In 1859, Russia proposed to the United States if they wanted their territory, Alaska. The United States passed on buying it from Russia due to the Civil War.
Russia really needed to sell the land to make some amount of money before Britain overpowered them and then take Alaska away from them. The secretary of state for the United States, William Seward, communicated with Russia and the U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867.
Alaska, 586,412 square miles of vast land of opportunities, was purchased for 7.2 million dollars. In the city of Sitka, on October 18 1867, citizens watched the Russian flag go down and the American flag rise. For 2 cents an acre, America bought one of the most important pieces to their puzzle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_alaska_1.html
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