The Russian tsar, Alexander II, affixed his signature at the end of this copy of the Alaska purchase treaty following a short commentary on his ratification in Russian. This copy includes a lengthy listing of the tsar’s historical titles in Russian on the first page, which is absent in the American version. Since both of these portions of the ratified text in the tsar’s copy were written in Russian, they subsequently were translated into French. The diplomatic language of the Russian imperial court was French, so this constituted ...

Under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution relating to treaties, the U.S. Senate is required to give its advice and consent, by a two-thirds vote, for any treaty to be ratified and become law. On April 9, 1867, the Senate gave its advice and consent to the Alaska Purchase treaty by the necessary number of votes. Shown here is the notification, by John W. Forney, Chief Clerk, of the Senate’s action. Secretary of State William H. Seward relied on a number of supporters within the Senate to ...

The original treaty for the purchase of Alaska by the United States, written in parallel columns in English and French, is presented here with the signatures of the U.S. secretary of state William H. Seward and the Russian minister to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl. The diplomatic language of the Russian imperial court was French, so there was no official Russian version of the treaty. Following consent by the U.S. Senate, President Andrew Johnson affixed his signature to the end of this copy of the treaty on ...

On June 20, 1867, U.S. secretary of State William H. Seward and the Russian minister to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl, exchanged the official instruments of ratification of the Alaska purchase treaty in Washington, D.C. While the Russian government rubber-stamped the tsar’s authorization of the treaty, under the terms of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Senate had to consent to the treaty on the American side. The final exchange of ratified treaties took place approximately three months after the signing of the agreement in ...

In 1866 the Russian government offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward, enthusiastic about the prospect of American expansion, negotiated the deal for the U.S. government. Eduard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to the United States, negotiated for the Russians. On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory. For less than two cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles (1.55 million ...

On the night of March 29−30, 1867, U.S. secretary of State William H. Seward conducted the final negotiations and signed the treaty for the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire with the Russian minister in Washington, Eduard de Stoeckl. After years of advocating the expansion of the United States through the acquisition of various territories, Seward finally had acquired a major new territory in fulfillment of what he believed was the country’s “Manifest Destiny.” The U.S. Senate soon voted its consent to the treaty, but ...