1. The United States wanted to expand because of manifest destiny, the belief settlers had that they were destined to expand across North America.
2. William Henry Seward was United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as Governor of New York and United States Senator. He was an anti-slaveryite advocate who opposed concession in 1850. He helped purchase Alaska as well as creating a secret police force.
3. 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.
4. The purchase of Alaska was called Seward's Folly because it was considered to have been a mistake, mainly because of how much it cost. The cost for Alaska in 1867 was $7.2 million, which is about $116 million in 2016 dollars.
5. Since 1867, Alaska has been shown to have many commodities of value: gold, copper, timber, oil. The value of goods extracted from Alaska dwarfs the purchase of Alaska.
6. One of the biggest industries in Alaska is mining. Besides gold, Alaska has major supplies of coal, natural gasses, oil and zinc. Others include forestry products (like hemlock and spruce), as well as fishing and wildlife resources.
