Personal blog about states
Russia controlled most of the area that is now Alaska from the late 1700s until 1867, when it was purchased by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million, or about two cents an acre.
October 18, 1867
1 Answer. United States acquisition of Hawaii enabled the American Navy to access Hawaii’s naval base, Pearl Harbor. Acquisition of Alaska enabled the United States to expand, find valuable resources and become more of a world power.
ALASKA was a Russian colony from 1744 until the USA bought it in 1867 for $7,200,000. It was made a state in 1959. Hawaii was a kingdom until 1893 and became a republic in 1894. It then ceded itself to the USA in 1898 and became a state in 1959.
There are two main reasons. First, Canada wasn’t its own country in 1867. Second, Great Britain controlled the Canadian colonies. Russia did not want to sell Alaska to its rival.
In the end, the Soviet Union would become the rightful winners of the Russian Civil War and Alaska would be recognized as an independent country. The fall of the Soviet Union would be celebrated in Alaska , but there would not be any reunification; the United States would not tolerate Alaska being reannexed by Russia .
The treaty — setting the price at $7.2 million , or about $125 million today — was negotiated and signed by Eduard de Stoeckl, Russia’s minister to the United States, and William H. Seward, the American secretary of state.
1867: Alaska territory purchased from Russia for $7 million. 1898: Hawaii annexed as a United States territory. 1959: Alaska and Hawaii admitted, respectively, as the 49th and 50th states of the Union.
On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signs a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state.
The United States wanted Hawaii to acquire its islands and because it was a port way to China, East India and Asia. Not only did they want the islands, but they wanted their naval base. They wanted their naval base for war so they would have another advantage to help defeat the other country.
Seceding from a state and forming a new one requires the approval of the both the original state and the U.S. Congress. The State of Jefferson would be our 52nd state , the 51st being the now-aborning North Colorado.
The planters’ belief that a coup and annexation by the United States would remove the threat of a devastating tariff on their sugar also spurred them to action. Spurred by the nationalism aroused by the Spanish- American War, the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 at the urging of President William McKinley.
Alaska
Alaska Alax̂sxax̂ (Aleut) Alaasikaq (Inupiaq) Anáaski (Tlingit) Alas’kaaq (Pacific Gulf Yupik) | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Before statehood | Territory of Alaska |
Admitted to the Union | January 3, 1959 (49th) |
Capital | Juneau |
On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S. , Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867.
1959