The Alaskan Purchase The Alaskan purchase was an extremely controversial subject in the 1860’s, filled with people who opposed the plan, and pushed for the plan. Above them all, was William Seward, Secretary of state at the time. And the most successful activist for the purchase. He won obviously, but continued afterwards to be mocked and harassed for years. The Russians were happy regardless, they had been struck with war for many years before and needed the money desperately. The purchase of Alaska had, skepticism, imperial desire, money debates, omens, and weirdly, no violence. There were in short, many good things, and many bad things that this deal included, as will be addressed. The acquisition of Alaska was looked upon with overly abundant amounts of skepticism, but was still sought after by many Americans. Many people of the U.S. believed that the idea was foolish and that America would have no use for the land (History.State.Gov). For example, as far…show more content… They had many reasons to do so, most of which were financial reasons of course (Yahoo Answers). Some reasons Russia sought out buyers for Alaska were as follows. During this time, “Russians felt they could never have a firm hold on such a distance colony” (Yahoo Answers). As mentioned earlier, they had only around 400 settlers maximum, and were not showing any signs of increasing the number soon, so many people began to wonder if selling the land for some quick money was not such a bad idea. Speaking of quick money, during this time Russia was experiencing tensions with the Ottoman Empire, as they would later go to war with them, and were trying to prepare the best they could financially. Besides this, they may have ended up losing the land anyways to Britain or even America (Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History). So selling the land was probably the best course of action in Russia’s heated times, especially after their loss in the Crimean
