Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Purchase of Alaska (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, this is Gary. I'm off this week traveling and attending a conference, and while I'm away, I've lined up some vintage episodes and deep cuts that most of you probably haven't heard before. And even if you have heard them, a refresher never hurts. I'll be back again with brand new episodes on January 30th. In 1867, United States Secretary of State William Seward signed a treaty with the Empire of Russia to purchase the territory of what would be called Alaska. The United States purchased it for two cents an acre. At the time, it was called one. of the worst deals in American history. Today, it's considered the greatest bargain of all time. Learn more about the purchase of Alaska on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day and tonight and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thruly line podcast from NPR. The Russian presence in the Americas dates back to the early 18th century.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Traders and merchants who spread across Siberia just kept going when they reached the Pacific Ocean. If Siberia was distant from the Russian population centers in Europe, then Alaska was really far away. In fact, it earned the nickname Siberia's Siberia. Russia's interest in Alaska was in furs and trapping. The sea otter was of primary interest to the few Russians who bothered to settle. Most Russian efforts in the region in the 18th century were never really serious. In 1799, the Russian Crown established the Russian American Company, Russia's first joint stock corporation. The company was organized along the lines of other European companies, such as the British and Dutch East India companies. The Russians mostly stayed close to the coast and didn't establish

Starting point is 00:02:08 any camps or towns in the interior. Their primary goal was to dominate trade in the North Pacific, and they even set up forts as far away as California and Hawaii. However, none of these attempts at colonization in the Americas was ever very successful. Due to the sheer distance of Alaska from St. Petersburg, transportation costs were enormous. To get there, they would have to go around most of Europe, cross the Atlantic, go down the length of North and South America, go around Cape Horn, then go back up the entirety of North and South America again. They also never had many people who actually lived in Alaska.

Starting point is 00:02:42 The Russian Orthodox Church did send out some missionaries, but even at its peak, they probably never had more than a thousand settlers. Ships could only supply Russian outposts every two or three years, so they mostly relied on trading with Americans and Native people. Nonetheless, for a while at least, it was worth it for Russia just for reasons of nationalism and imperial ambition. However, things began to change in the 19th century. Russia's main competitor was the United Kingdom. In Afghanistan and South Asia, they constantly vied for power with the British in what was called the Great Game. In 1856, they suffered humiliating and costly defeat to the British and Turks in the Crimean War. They were in need of cash.

Starting point is 00:03:24 The Russians realized that Alaska probably couldn't be held for long. The Americans were growing in size and power, and it was probably only a matter of time before they set their sights on Alaska. If there was to be a gold rush, something like what California experienced, there'd be nothing that could be done to hold back an influx of prospectors. They were to be a war. were too far away, and it would cost too much money to defend it. Moreover, if they were to lose Alaska, they really only had two choices, the Americans, or their nemesis, the British who controlled Canada. If the British were to take control of Alaska, then the British would have the perfect location to start to threaten Russia's Pacific coast. If the Americans were to take control, they could

Starting point is 00:04:04 serve as a buffer between Russia and Britain. Moreover, in the 19th century, American-British relations weren't as good as they are today as the memory of the war of 1812 was still fresh. In 1858, Russian Tsar Alexander II made the decision to try and sell the territory to the United States. It would serve their strategic goals, and they could make some desperately needed money in the process. Initial talks between Russia and the United States began with the Buchanan administration. However, the unpopularity of his presidency meant that the negotiations would have to be picked up by the next administration. Abraham Lincoln was of course elected in 1860, but negotiations again broke down with the onset of the U.S. Civil War. Nonetheless, one of the biggest supporters of purchasing Alaska was the expansionist senator from

Starting point is 00:04:51 New York, William Seward, who stated, quote, standing here in looking far off into the northwest, I see the Russian as he busily occupies himself in establishing seaports and towns and fortifications on the verge of the continent. And I can say, go on and build your outposts all along the coast, even up to the Arctic Ocean. They will yet become outposts of my own country, monuments of the civilization of the United States in the northwest, unquote. Not coincidentally, William Seward became the next Secretary of State when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Seward was a pretty fascinating guy. He, not Lincoln, was the presumptive favorite going into the Republican Convention of 1860. In fact, he had way more votes than Lincoln did on the first ballot.

Starting point is 00:05:35 However, as interesting as it might be, the story of William Seward will have to be left for another episode. With the end of the Civil War and the death of Lincoln, Seward remained the Secretary of State under the new president Andrew Johnson. While Seward was an expansionist, he was also an abolitionist. Pre-war, he was against the Gadsden purchase and a possible purchase of Cuba because they would have been slave states. With the war over, Seward wanted to go on a buying spree, which not only included Alaska, but maybe even Greenland and Iceland too. Almost immediately after the war ended, the Tsar ordered his minister to the United States to open up negotiations again with Seward. By March 1867, negotiations had entered their final stage. The initial U.S. offer was $5 million, which the Russians rejected as being too low.

Starting point is 00:06:22 The final price, which was agreed upon, was $7.2 million, which ended up being approximately two cents an acre. Adjusted for inflation, it would be about $133 million today. The treaty was signed at 4 a.m. on March 30th, 1867. Johnson and Seward hoped that the announcement would offset bad domestic news, and for a while it did. Most of the coverage of the purchase was positive, but some radical Republican newspapers disparaged the purchase, calling it Johnson's polar bear garden, a Russian fairyland, or walrus Russia. The term Seward's folly didn't come about until several years later. Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, noted that Alaska was, quote, a burden not worth taking as a gift, unquote. One senator joked that the U.S. should only accept it if Seward agreed to live there.

Starting point is 00:07:13 Nonetheless, it easily passed in the Senate on a 32-7 vote. On October 18, 1867, a transfer ceremony was held in Sitka, or what the Russians called New Archangel. Everything went smoothly and peaceably. The vast majority of Alaskan natives had no. clue that any of this had happened. Because the Russians never strayed far from beyond the southern coast of Alaska, most people inland had never seen a Russian or had even heard of Russia, let alone that the land which they lived on had now somehow been sold to some other people that they had no knowledge of. After the transfer had taken place, the impeachment of President

Starting point is 00:07:49 Johnson and his extreme unpopularity led to problems. The House initially refused to authorize the payment for the territory. It wasn't until Johnson lost the Democratic nomination, and it was clear he wouldn't have another term that funds were authorized. Afterward, it was found that the Russian envoy to the U.S., Edward De Stokel, made tens of thousands of dollars of bribes and payments to members of Congress to get approval for the deal. Of the Russians who were in Alaska, the vast majority of them left. They took the opportunity to return home, which was paid for by the Russian-America Company. Most of the Americans who moved there also ended up leaving, as there were few economic opportunities in the region. It wasn't until the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 that the fortunes of Alaska

Starting point is 00:08:32 changed and large numbers of people started to flood into the territory. As for Seward, he traveled to Alaska almost as soon as he retired from Secretary of State, where he visited the territorial capital of Sitka. Today, he is honored in the state with a highway, a city, and an annual holiday. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Mackala. Please remember to support the show over at patreon.com where you can get exclusive merchandise and to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Purchase of Alaska (Encore)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.