Czar Alexander II of Russia
ca.1861-1865
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Czar Alexander II of Russia shared many interests with American President Abraham Lincoln who was desperately fighting a war to keep the United States intact, and working to secure the North American continent from European interests, particularly the British. After suffering defeat in the Crimean War at the hands of the British, Russia sought ways to recoup its financial losses and counter British gains.
By the 1860s Russian ventures in Alaska were becoming significantly less profitable with Sea Otters hunted to near extinction, presenting the Czar with such an opportunity. Sale of Alaska to the United States would provide Russia with an influx of cash while squeezing the British out of a large portion of the Pacific northwest.
These efforts culminated in the sale of Alaska to the United States after the assassination of President Lincoln, with Secretary of State William H. Seward brokering the deal in 1868 for $7.2 million, or less than two cents per acre. This transaction came to be known as "Seward's Folly" with few in the U.S. seeing any value in this acquisition; perceptions later changed when gold was discovered in Alaska in the 1890s, and crude oil in the 1960s.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985.
National Archives Identifier:
526175Full Citation: Czar Alexander II of Russia; ca.1861-1865; Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, 1921 - 1940; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985, Record Group 111; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/czar-alexander-ii-of-russia, May 14, 2024]