Why does American history books claim that U.S. purchased Alaska?

Question

Russian history books have always stated that Russia leased Alaska to USA for 100 years then in 1967, USA was to give Alaska back to Russia...

Answer 1

Russian history books write EXACTLY THE SAME as Americans - that Alaska was sold to USA. I know, there are several science freaks, pretending to be Russian historians, who state that Alaska was leased (despite the fact, that all the historical documents talk about SALE, not LEASE).

It's very bad that you can't distinguish between "history book" and "pseudo-history book, written by a freak".

FYI read this [ http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Продажа_Аля... ].

Answer 2

Russia thus turned to the only other potential buyer, the United States. In the mid-nineteenth century, Russia and the United States were drawn together by a common hostility toward Great Britain and a basic agreement on most foreign policy issues. Of the major European powers, Russia was the only one to support the Union in the American Civil War of 1861-65. The United States had already become aware of the possible Russian interest in selling Alaska in the mid-1850s, during the term of President Franklin Pierce. Faced with the breakup of the nation, however, the administrations of Presidents James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln were in no position to respond positively to Russian offers. Ardent expansionists such as William H. Seward, secretary of state under both Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, nonetheless retained an abiding interest in obtaining Alaska, which they saw as an integral component of Manifest Destiny and the American drive to the Pacific. In 1867, Seward reached an agreement with the Russian ambassador in Washington to purchase the territory for $7.2 million.

Of course Russian history books are true also. NOT!!!

Answer 3

Vovka, why don’t you mention California as well?

Just compare Alaska and Siberia; Alaska is a tidy land while Siberia is ear-deep in c**p; I mean ecology!

Answer 4

Russia had Alaska. Then russian queen sold it to America.

Dont believe american books, i found many history mistakes in them. Or propagandas.

Answer 5

Russia sounds like it's the USA's ex-wife.

Answer 6

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000 or about 2 cents per acre. The U.S. purchase was accomplished solely through the determined efforts of Secretary of State William H. Seward, and for many years afterward the land was derisively called Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox because of its supposed uselessness. Since Alaska appeared to offer no immediate financial return, it was neglected.

Therefore, its Alaska that wanted the US to buy its land and not the US wanting to buy Alaska.

Answer 7

Because they did:

Purchase of Alaska, 1867

The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region. Beginning in 1725, when Russian Czar Peter the Great dispatched Vitus Bering to explore the Alaskan coast, Russia had a keen interest in this region, which was rich in natural resources and lightly inhabited. As the United States expanded westward in the early 1800s, Americans soon found themselves in competition with Russian explorers and traders. Moscow, however, lacked the financial resources to support major settlements or a military presence along the Pacific coast of North America and permanent Russian settlers in Alaska never numbered more than four hundred. Defeat in the Crimean War further reduced Russian interest in this region.

Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859, believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain. The looming U.S. Civil War delayed the sale, but after the war, Secretary of State William Seward quickly took up a renewed Russian offer and on March 30, 1867, agreed to a proposal from Russian Minister in Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million. The Senate approved the treaty of purchase on April 9; President Andrew Johnson signed the treaty on May 28, and Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867. This purchase ended Russia's presence in North America and ensured U.S. access to the Pacific northern rim.

For three decades after its purchase the United States paid little attention to Alaska, which was governed under military, naval, or Treasury rule or, at times, no visible rule at all. Seeking a way to impose U.S. mining laws, the United States constituted a civil government in 1884. Skeptics had dubbed the purchase of Alaska "Seward’s Folly," but the former Secretary of State was vindicated when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896, and Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. The strategic importance of Alaska was finally recognized in World War II. Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959.

Enjoy!

Answer 8

That's not true. If it was Russia would have Alaska.  

Answer 9

If so, it wasn't the only international agreement that the United States has violated over the years. For example, in the Treaty of Guadalupe, with Mexico, the US promised that Mexican and US citizens would be able to travel freely back and forth between the two countries without visas or immigration restrictions...forever. Until the US Senate unilaterally repealed the provision.

Answer 10

If that's true, then the Russians got screwed.  Seriously, though, we have a property law that states that if an improvement is made on the land, that the user's of the land are entitled to compensation for those improvements, which usually includes permanent ownership of the land.  Also, it's possible that the agreement of 1867 could've been amended since then, especially considering the effects of WW2 and the Cold War.